Lincoln ‘Repair and Reward’
If you’re under 40, this is a new release. And if you’re over 40, yes it’s the same Art Monk Construction band from Morgantown, WV that came and went before any of us knew what hit us.
Lincoln was formed in 1992 by Jay Demko (vocals/guitar), John Herod (guitar), Justin Wierbonski (drums), and Johanna Claasen (bass). They joined a quick and short-lasting underground trend that named bands after presidents and political figures (Franklin, Hoover), and kinda sounded the same. They also slayed.
I was lucky enough to witness them play once at Rutgers in maybe 1993 and was left baffled by their power and ability to capture a room. Then they released a split with Hoover on Art Monk Construction. The song was also powerful, mixing post-hardcore and proto-emo with unique changes and building tension before refraining in a very Texas is The Reason way before TITR was even a band.
A full 7” from Lincoln arrived soon after, and it was both emotive and rhythmic. Jay Demko (vocals) sounded like a more pissed off Rick Froberg from Drive Like Jehu, and the songs grew to a new level of fierce complexity. Then, through the grapevine, I heard that soon after, Lincoln had broken up.
Claasen went on to play in The Most Secret Method. Demko moved to State College, Pa., where he formed the short-lived Glendale. When he returned to Morgantown, he reconnected with Wierbonski to form Kukim along with Chris Turco (Ultraam) on guitar and vocals and Ben Doyle (Braille Drivers) on bass and vocals. I was a fan of both projects but neither felt as crucial and necessary as Lincoln. (Mainly because Lincoln’s live show was imprinted on my brain and that first impression craved the original.)
A few months ago, Temporary Residence Ltd. announced the release of ‘Repair and Reward,’ by a band called Lincoln. I clicked on it thinking, did some new band take that name already? And was happily wrong. It’s the same 1993 Lincoln, all singles assembled in one place, plus a bonus song, restored, transferred and mixed by J. Robbins. And it sounds incredible. It’s just as pissed off as the original singles, and it documents the band’s changes from Quicksand-type hardcore into proto-emo/screamo/that whole movement when people into DC hardcore discovered Slint.
It’s also evidence that Lincoln was onto something before they burned out too quickly. People still care. Of the many bands that came and went during that era, not many are getting reissues from labels that probably have a lot of work to do already. Not many came with the brutal delivery and progressive song structures of Lincoln though.
Find it on Bandcamp here.
