The Boise, Idaho-based indie rock band Built to Spill meet in the middle ground between postmodern, Pavement-style pop and the loose, spacious jamming of Neil Young. The group is a vehicle for singer/songwriter/guitarist Doug Martsch, who — heavily inspired by Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis — helped keep the concept of the indie guitar hero alive. On record, Martsch the arranger crafted intricate, artfully knotted tangles of guitar; in concert, his rough-edged soloing heroics earned Built to Spill a reputation as an exciting and unpredictable live act. Their early records betrayed some punk scrappiness around the edges, but as Martsch’s songwriting matured, he was able to crank out complicated, emotionally wracked songs that melted hearts as easily as they did speakers. The artistic success of 1994’s There’s Nothing Wrong with Love led to the band signing a deal with Warner Bros., where they released a string of albums highlighted by alt-rock classics Perfect from Now On and Keep It Like a Secret. As the ’90s receded in the rearview mirror, the band kept going strong. Through numerous lineup changes and a shifting musical landscape, Martsch stayed true to his roots, and records like 2015’s Untethered Moon and 2022’s When the Wind Forgets Your Name sound remarkably similar to early works, only with an added element of maturity.
