Neva Dinova - it's hard to love you, 2008

"I'd imagine that Old School finds its way into many a Netflix queue at this point in the year, as outgoing college seniors face the grim specter of adulthood. Maybe it's just serendipitous timing, but I can't help but see this film as a primary influence on You May Already Be Dreaming, even if Neva Dinova has been around since the 1990s and are on their third full-length LP. As Saddle Creek's diaspora continues to expand sonically as well as geographically, for their label debut, the Nebraska band (previously featured with Conor Oberst on the One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels EP) sounds seduced by the prospect of "living the dream" via arrested development, in this case, a time when the imprint/collective could be relied on for little more than Omaha natives playing a tears-in-your-Sparks combo of "acceptable country" structure and indie self-centeredness. The simplicity of the form makes it incredibly hard to fuck up, but You May Already Be Dreaming posits that it's also incredibly hard to make interesting."