In the late 90’s and early 00’s my dad would play The Revolution 101.1 when my brother and I visited his apartment. I remember hearing Remedy sitting at the dining room table while my dad was cooking dinner just engrossed in the song. I only heard the song a handful of other times, but the main hook ( Then you can be the remedy, and I can be the enemy…) got lodged so deep inside my psyche that it became my “default” song when I mindlessly sing.
Given that there are many other songs titled “Remedy“, it took years (and the advent of YouTube) for me to finally track down Abandoned Pools version.
Founded by Tommy Walter, the original bass player for The Eels, Abandoned Pools was a barely noticed and quickly forgotten alt rock band. Sporting only two singles, the aforementioned Remedy and Mercy Kiss the band never really caught on.
Remedy has touchstones of early aughts alt rock, (glitchy programmed drums, copy/paste repeated vocal lines to fill up space, held power chords that hold on for just a bit too long) and songwriting wise, it really isn’t that great. It could use a better bridge, and the chorus could really benefit from the “Drive My Car” trick, and the song isn’t anything special live. Yet, there is still something so satisfying to me about this song.
Maybe it just captures that post 9/11 melancholy aesthetic in a way that at 12 years old I could have something to attach to. Maybe the melody to the chorus had been rolling in my subconscious, unused, until Tommy grabbed it from the ether. Maybe it’s just catchy. Whatever the case it’s stuck with me and has influenced how I go about crafting choruses to this day.
A Pilgrim of Eternity 