Return of the Frog Queen
Return of the Frog Queen is a solo album by Jeremy Enigk, recorded following his brief retirement from music due to the temporary split of Sunny Day Real Estate. It was recorded with a 21-piece orchestra and released in 1996. It has a slower and quieter sound than Sunny Day Real Estate's often-bombastic albums. The album was recorded after Enigk converted to Christianity; this conversion had been originally thought to have brought on the disbanding of Sunny Day Real Estate, which was later cleared up as a smaller part of more internal  struggles in the band. Sunny Day Real Estate reunited in 1997, when they released "How It Feels to Be Something On". The sound of that record furthers the mellower sound developed on "Return of the Frog Queen". According to the 1997 Sub Pop mail-order catalog, Lou Barlow, of fellow Sub Pop band Sebadoh, cited "Frog Queen" as his favorite album of 1996. Critical reception. "Trouser Press" called the album "magical," writing that "other than some Beatlisms, the record occasionally suggests how Syd Barrett might have sounded had he been able to mount a full-fledged production effort, but there ’s so much else going on here that any sense of nostalgia quickly evaporates." "MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide" wrote that "Enigk and his keening, crackly tenor forge an intriguing recording reminiscent of early '70s British psychedelic pop." "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" called the album "dazzling, if enigmatic, orchestral pop." In its review of the album's reissue, "Pitchfork" wrote that "Return of the Frog Queen"'s "orchestral grandeur helped shape indie rock's future."