It’s the year 2004. There is little to be bitter about as you are graced by the glorious sounds of The Fall of Math, In A Safe Place, and Kings of Time. All you need now is a new, exciting band to feast on. Enter The Samuel Jackson 5, a Norwegian quintet both creative and multi-dimensional. Do you remember?

The words on an instrumental music fan’s lips when SJ5 is mentioned are almost always Easily Misunderstood. It is not surprising, however, considering it was a total knockout - I still can’t help but feel giddy every time I listen to "Michael Collins Autograph." Despite being their less solid album, Same Same but Different should not be overlooked. The 5 give us a slippery piece of art; one of those pretty Water Wiggly toys you just can’t seem to get a grasp on. “Honest Abe,” for instance, is one of those pieces of the Same Same puzzle that provide the listener with a sense of hard-to-hold but building energy. Unfortunately, it’s comparable to being teased to the point before orgasm and being told, “Oh, darn, it's now time for me to go." Some of the tracks are, essentially, a case of the old blue balls.

With that said, there are definitely some signs of future post-rock glory in Same Same but Different. The extraterrestrial-like sound effects that grace Misunderstood’s “Skinflick Dress Rehearsal” are highly reminiscent of the teakettle-whistling ditty “Sing Slow Walk Fast.” The head-swaying energy found in their entire second album is beginning to build in “Same Same But Different” and “Clubbers Dream.” They provide a variety of different styled tunes, from jazzy to electronic. And, by the way, they totally jam in “Locust Lowtalker.” It’s hard not to listen to the album and be intrigued by the band and excited for what comes next.

The beauty of the work as a whole, and the good thing about this re-release, is that veteran Samuel Jackson 5 fans, as well as those who are new to the band’s history, can either review the album and its successor in preparation for their new release coming this fall, or get a glimpse for the first time into what this quintet was before they became, well, the shit. As a faithful SJ5’er I can say that it’s never a bad thing to listen to their early explorative works. There can only be anticipation for what’s yet to come.

-Jessica Reuter