#glo-worm

Glo-Worm was a trio, made up of Berry, Terry Banks on guitar and drummer Dan Searing, that came together in the early 1990s. All three principals were well-known around the Capitol, Pam from Black Tambourine, Banks from Tree Fort Angst and Dan from Whorl. The project only lasted for a couple of years but produced three Eps and this album, which incorporated the previous recordings and originally came out in 1996.  This reissue includes all the songs from Glimmer, plus four alternate takes derived from radio sessions from Washington’s beloved WHFS.

The songs are light and lovely, Berry’s bell-clear soprano soaring over a jangle of guitar and drums. Songs like “Change of Heart” are summery, breezy, effortless and bouyant, though, as all good pop music is, tinged with sadness. “Tilt-a-Whirl,” in spinning three-time, showcases Banks’ intricate but easy guitar work, as Berry wafts over him, trilling “on and on, on and on” with bittersweet inflections.

There two really fetching covers, one of the Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love” and another of Petulah Clark’s “Downtown.” The Cure song is full of soft curves and caressing melodies—a set of bells or xylophone notes burble in the background, a song you could live in all summer long. “Downtown” runs a bit rougher, Clash-like guitar clangor going off as Berry embodies 1960s sophistication — at least until the whole band starts whistling. It’s a reminder that everyone in the band had a punk side as well as a twee one and that sweetness goes down better with a bit of the rough.

Glimmer will remind you of other, more innocent times, or at least times that seem that way in retrospect. In any case, if you’re going to live in the past, you could hardly ask for a more inviting example of it. Why not curl up in the Glo-Worms for a while and forget about how the world turned out?