Seam "the pace is glacial"

I had seen an ad for this #seam album in fanzines in 1999.  I remember loving the album title "the pace is glacial" and the stark cover resonated with me at that point in my life.  It was a time I carried my bass guitar for eight blocks at least twice a week to my band's Main street practice space.  That walk was the only thing that ever felt important to me, it was a commute to the most important part of my life.  Being in an indie rock band felt so natural, as natural and as important as breathing. It was like we were a sad, self-obsessed coven.  We would stand in designated points of the rehearsal room and conjure melancholy songs, make them appear through repetitive recitation. I secretly had a stash of musical "spell books". CDs I would mine for ideas.  This record was a big one.  It's meandering and dynamic songs, off-key vocals, thoughtful instrumentation and it's glum spirit.  I popped this in today while our littlest son is playing and recovering from his bout with encyphalopathy.  His recovery has been linked to music and I wonder if this one of my children will ever gladly trudge through snow and slush while carrying a guitar case to a dilapidated building to try and invoke music that has always seemed mystical.  Will he ever have an album that he hides, that he doesn't share with friends who have similar musical tastes because it feels too personal?  Well 18 years later I'm letting the cat out of the bag: if you heard any of my indie rock bands back then I was heavily mining this record for inspiration.  Which means i was ripping it off.  Not note for note or anything like that, I had too much pride for that.  I would play along to these songs and then noodle about while these songs played in my head finding my own song that shared the spirit.  I did not do it very well but damn I felt good about the time spent .