Superchunk Reckon with the State of the Union » PopMatters
Chapel Hill’s finest Superchunk return with another ten songs of righteous, catchy anger and dark humor. It’s one of the best records of their reunion era.
Songs in the Key of Yikes Superchunk Merge 22 August 2025
Superchunk’s return has been one of the most rewarding second acts in rock. The Chapel Hill indie group have outlasted many of their peers and haven’t lost a step in terms of quality. Since their return with Majesty Shredding in 2010, they have released one stellar record after another. Better still, they have managed to become even more provocative, sharpening their lyrical and musical attack to become one of the most poignant chroniclers of the times we live in. All this without sacrificing the hooks they have been known for for over three decades.
Although unintentional, the trifecta of the last three Superchunk releases, 2018’s What a Time to Be Alive, 2022’s Wild Loneliness, and their latest, Songs in the Key of Yikes, is as compelling a real-time state of the union for the past seven years as anyone has managed. Longtime fans will devour it, as we always do, but there is a lot more here than a victory lap for a long-running band trying to please the faithful. This is a potent collection that could easily be a gateway into the band’s formidable discography.
A cursory glance at the track titles of Songs in the Key of Yikes is a degree of misdirection. While the lyrics and topics are heavy, the songs are some of the catchiest and brightest in the group’s estimable catalog, drawing from past and current sounds of the band to deliver one of their best releases of the newer era. “Is it Making You Feel Something?” kicks off the record and instantly delivers a big, memorable chorus. “Bruised Lung” is a mid-tempo rocker with a killer ending. “Cue” is another in the long tradition of pretty slow burners like “Swallow That” from the canonical On the Mouth. It is one of the band’s best slower-tempo songs.
While it can be easy for a longtime fan to identify touchpoints from records past, this is an ever-evolving band that still gives a damn about making better songs than their last record. The songcraft on display across these ten tracks is remarkably strong, and that has been the key to this second life Superchunk have had since Majesty Shredding.
One of the secrets to even the bitterest Superchunk songs going down easy is the potent combination of a seemingly endless well of memorable riffs and a little dark humor. “Care Less” is an upbeat song about trying to take a break from the constant swirl of anxiety. It’s one of the best songs on the record, as lead singer/lyricist Mac McCaughan describes getting strange looks from the birds when he wakes at the crack of dawn. Another highlight is “Everybody Dies”, which is much more fun than its title suggests. It’s easy to imagine a crowd pogoing to the chorus. It has a massive riff and a great solo that most closely conjures one of the ragers on What a Time to Be Alive.
The song that delivers the biggest classic Superchunk thrills is “Train on Fire”, with a riff straight out of No Pocky for Kitty and a “yeah, yeah” that recalls “From the Curve”, another essential track from On the Mouth. If What a Time to be Alive was a furious middle finger to MAGA nation, and Wild Loneliness captured the uneasy feeling of escaping doom to find an unclear path forward marked by routines and clinging to what matters, Songs in the Key of Yikes tips its hand toward a weary, but righteous resilience that is best summarized by the line “No hope, but we’re still singing”.
At a time when many artists are too tired, too nervous, or too disengaged to write protest songs, Superchunk’s pivot to more politically minded songs is even more meaningful. They are still singing, so let’s all pogo and join in.