Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan is a reliable guy. Over the course of eight Superchunk full-lengths, several collections and EPs, and more than a dozen releases from side-project Portastatic, McCaughan has given us hours of memorable, shambolic, punky indie-pop. Even Superchunk’s least acclaimed albums are still some fan’s favorite. The guy even has time to run one of America’s premier indie record labels, Merge. Talk about a work ethic!

In fact, McCaughan’s dependability is what’s often most counted against him. It’s hard to get excited when each album is pretty much on par with the last. We need drama, a sophomore slump, a major-label sell-out, a triumphant return-to-form. What do we get? Album after album of quality music.

Mac himself is also no doomed rock ‘n’ roll fuck-up. There’s no stories of Mötley Crüe excess. No acid-induced mental breakdown. He’s a smart, self-effacing guy with a knack for a catchy tune and pretty impressive business sense.

So it’s quite ironic to find that one of his strongest efforts is the facetiously-titled “You Can Always Count On Me (In the Worst Way).”

The song dates from Superchunk’s late 90s sessions with indie super-producer (I love that phrase) Jim O’Rourke and the resulting Come Pick Me Up album. After a difficult transition from raucous grunge-era noise merchants to jaunty jangle-popsters, Superchunk finally hit their stride and nailed the elusive sound they had hinted at over the previous few albums.

In the first twelve tracks of the album, the band smashed its way through a top-shelf mix of rockers and ballads, with witty, sensitive lyrics and memorable hooks. And then McCaughan has the nerve to paint himself as a great failure? Who’s he kidding?

“You Can Always Count On Me” starts off with a fade-in to a delicate, lilting waltz, with Mac crooning the title line. The instruments weave in and out of each other, and then the song kicks into the driving 4/4 main stretch. The pay-off comes just after the two-minute mark with a sun-kissed climactic chorus that ends the album, leaving you cursing the band for ending things too soon.

As one of the best songs on one of the best albums by one of the best bands of the last two decades, it’s a perfect summary of what makes Superchunk so great. For McCaughan, failure is not an option.

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