Here we go again trying to classify music. Our editor struggled with the definition of “pop”, and I’m about to hopelessly flail away at “alternative”. Chicago’s Lionlimb have released quite the smashing new 7″, Lacerations. It’s four songs of instantly catchy melodies with touches of pedal steel and piano. Right about now you’re thinking, “Come on, dude, that’s alt-country!” Nice try. But it’s not. There are common elements, but no one would mistake these guys for Whiskeytown.

Earlier, I labeled Lionlimb rock, but that was based on songs fom their Myspace page that were drenched in electric guitar. I excitedly exclaimed they were Campfire Girls all over again. But Lacerations is quite a departure from those previous tunes.

Finding it necessary to give you something to grasp, I have concluded that these four songs most closely occupy the same space as Evan Dando’s grossly neglected solo record Baby I’m Bored. If this were the mid-90′s, the slacker or alternative tag might get slapped on as well because there is definitely a bit of a vocal weariness here.

The songs themselves? The stand out here is “Need A Lift”, which is ironically uplifting despite its overt melancholy. There’s an easy openness to it’s acoustic guitar, pedal steel, and simple piano. Calling this the stand out is saying something in that all four songs are remarkably mature and well crafted. The title track “Lacerations” is the “rocker”, if you will, as it actually rocks. It too utilizes a simple one note piano to keep it driving along but throws in the old electric guitar to keep it fuzzier than the rest.

“What I Take” starts with a bit of a bar band country riff and kind of keeps that drunken swagger throughout while asking the age old question “Do you still feel the same?” Ah, heartbreak, slacker style. The record closes with the mild surf rock of “No Pieces To Play”.It’s a downer of a song but keeps your head nodding. This is the beauty of the old slacker alternative; despite it’s weariness there’s always a willingness to rock out. The scene’s poster boy, J Mascis, may have always sighed and mumbled his words but he let his guitar do the yelling. Lionlimb are not Dinosaur Jr. but there’s definitely a kinship in a round-a-bout way.

So, can we use the “alternative” tag these days and have it mean anything? Probably not without contextualizing. To simplify things, Lionlimb’s Lacerations is four damned appealing songs low on quirk but high on craftsmanship. It’s straight forward without being “pop” or “rock”. There’s an uplifting vibe while being a bit of a downer. There’s pedal steel and piano but it’s not country. Maybe the time has come to reclaim the word “alternative”. Time to block out the last 15 years of the word, and its shallower usage. If we all agree to its new-old-fashioned definition, perhaps we can proudly proclaim bands like Lionlimb and their ilk “alternative”, and it can mean something once more.