Various Shadow Factory

Various Shadow Factory

Get It At Discogs

The first Sarah Records' singles compilation does an excellent job of efficiently encapsulating everything the fledgling label was then about -- "no unreleased outtakes or bonus mix cons, just an honest old-fashioned something we're proud of, a statement of faith in all sorts of futures tomorrow" read the liner notes, and without a doubt contemporary pop music doesn't get any more old-fashioned, dewy-eyed, or heart-on-its-sleeve than this. (The title of Another Sunny Day's "I'm in Love With a Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist" is alone a primer in pop-kid angst.) The 16 singles that comprise Shadow Factory hardly represent the creative apex of Sarah's output, but few labels have begun with so much promise -- the prodigious talents of bands like the Field Mice ("The Last Letter") and the Orchids "Underneath the Window, Underneath the Sink") were obvious from the outset, but it's melodicism and underlying wit common to all these songs that is the most persuasive testament to why the label still enjoys such a rabid cult following to this day.