Diary

Tea pairing: Black cherry tea

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The emo scene is probably the best music scene for hidden gems, and this is partly because it is such a misunderstood and overlooked genre that some of music’s best albums live on without the masses knowing about them.

That being said, plenty of emo albums have found their way into the mainstream due to critical acclaim, popularity, or both, but there are still dozens of fantastic records that are only known due to a cult following.

When it comes to Sunny Day Real Estate’s debut record Diary, it finds itself in an odd spot where it is critically lauded as the genre’s finest album, but outside of the scene, and even within, it is at times forgotten. From start to finish Diary delivers a heavy dose of emo inflected post-hardcore with the furiousity of Rites of Spring and Fugazi.

What sets Diary aside from most emo albums is the album’s sheer heaviness. Opener “Seven” is an unmistakable wall of sound, reminiscent of the grunge scene that dominated the airwaves when the record was released.

Often cited as a quintessential song of the emo scene, “Seven” is as melodic as it is aggressive with lyrics “When time is poetry/And stolen the world outside/The waiting could crush my heart” being shouted by frontman Jeremy Enigk. It is not a subtle album at all, as each song strives to be urgent.

Over 25 years have passed since the release of Diary and its mark on the scene as a whole cannot be overstated, and to this day the album is credited as being the bridge between post-hardcore and emo. Musically, that could not be more accurate as Diary melds both sounds exceptionally well.

With that said, it is important to note the heavy dose of grunge present on the record. Sunny Day Real Estate was founded in Seattle, the birthplace of grunge, and its influence is fairly obvious throughout the album, specifically on “In Circles”.

“In Circles” is far and away the band’s most well known songs, and that is with great reasoning. The song chronicles the hardships of a harmful relationship and holds some of the most poetic and personal lyrics the entirety of the emo scene has to offer.

“Oh I dream to heal your wounds/But I bleed myself, well I bleed myself’ if that does not gut you then you have no place listening to Sunny Day. The lines are so painfully personal that it is near impossible to want to share that pain with Enigk.

Gatekeeping aside, “In Circles” is a masterful track filled with crashing guitars, a driving bass driven by future Foo Fighter Nate Mendel, and the pining and emotionally heart shredding vocals of Jeremy Enigk.

My foray into Sunny Day’s stunning catalog was brought on through Washed Up Emo’s intro, which features the near iconic opening guitar riff of “In Circles”. On each episode of the podcast that riff played and I felt I was missing out on something special, and I indeed was.

I don’t remember how I discovered what the song was called or who it was by, but I do remember having a religious episode akin to John Belushi’s in “Blues Brothers”, except I wasn’t in a church.

Personally, I have yet to listen to a similar emo album where I can feel the importance of the album, of each track. Jawbreaker’s Dear You is a very close second, but even still I feel it opts more as a punk-emo affair whereas Diary flaunts a more raw, and honest emo side.

From track to track, Diary manages to amass the innermost feelings of Jeremy Enigk without faltering at all. It is truly as masterwork of the emo/post-hardcore movement of the mid 1990s that deserves a comfortable spot as the single most definitive emo record to date.