Let's Active "Afoot" - EP - 1983

North Carolina’s Let’s Active was probably the most misunderstood of the South’s ’80s new-pop bands. Though dogged by a rosy-cheeked nicest-guys-of-wimp-pop image, they could be downright moody...
…Producer / multi-instrumentalist Mitch Easter assembled the trio in 1981, but it only emerged nationally in the wake of R.E.M., whose first two discs Easter co-produced at his Drive-In garage studio outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Joining that band’s label, Let’s Active released a six-song EP, Afoot, bringing new meaning to such overused pop adjectives as crisp, bright and ringing. All the songs, even those with melancholy lyrics, are hook-filled, boppy and ultra-hummable. Pick to click: “Every Word Means No.”
But things were not as they seemed. Although perceived as the engineer of the now-sound-of-today in American guitar pop, Easter’s own tastes were running towards the electronic gadgetry of techno-rock. (His career as a producer was also taking off.) Also, his two original partners — bassist Faye Hunter and drummer Sara Romweber (sister of Flat Duo Jets’ Dexter Romweber) — were viewed as sidepeople, despite Easter’s egalitarian efforts to the contrary. In real life, the trio were not just simple, cheerful popsters. Both Easter’s love of “sounds” and the band’s inner conflicts were explored on Cypress, a record that is deeper and more enduring, though not as immediately winning, as Afoot. Denser, rambling textural pieces — some wistful, even angry — came to the fore. Few records sound so multi-dimensional, and Let’s Active has, for that reason, been tagged psychedelic — they make sounds you can almost touch. (In 1989, IRS combined Afoot and Cypress on a single CD.) - trouserpress - [Elizabeth Phillips / Ira Robbins]
Let's Active:
Sara Romweber Drums / Mitch Easter Guitar, Producer / Faye Hunter Bass

trax:
1. Every Word Means No 2. Make Up With Me 3. Edge of the World 4. Room With a View 5. In Between 6. Leaders of Men 7. Two Yous (bonus track)