The Problem with Me

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = The Problem with Me

| type = studio

| artist = Seam

| cover = Seam - The Problem With Me.jpg

| alt =

| released = September 21, 1993

| recorded = 1993

| venue =

| studio = Idful, Chicago, Illinois

| genre = Indie rock, slowcore, emo

| length = 36:57

| label = Touch and Go{{Cite web|url=http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=273|title=The Problem With Me | Seam | Touch and Go / Quarterstick Records|website=www.touchandgorecords.com}}

| producer = Brad Wood{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ufUBAAAQBAJ&dq=The+Problem+with+Me+seam+1993&pg=PA276|title=Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996|first=Andrew|last=Earles|date=September 15, 2014|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=9780760346488|via=Google Books}}

| prev_title = Kernel

| prev_year = 1993

| next_title = Are You Driving Me Crazy?

| next_year = 1995

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |first=Ned |last=Raggett |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-problem-with-me-mw0000620630 |title=The Problem with Me – Seam |website=AllMusic |accessdate=July 4, 2020}}

| rev2 = Chicago Tribune

| rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news |first=David |last=Rothschild |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-11-21-9311210292-story.html |title=The City That Rocks |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 21, 1993 |accessdate=July 4, 2020}}

|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=7 |page=323}}

|rev4 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide

|rev4score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=991}}

}}

The Problem with Me is the second album by American indie rock band Seam.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/seam-mn0000838962/biography|title=Seam | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C&dq=The+Problem+with+Me+seam+1993&pg=PA96|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|first=Peter|last=Buckley|date=January 1, 2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781843531050|via=Google Books}} It was released in 1993 through Touch and Go Records.{{cite magazine |first=Denise |last=Sheppard |url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=seam |title=Seam |magazine=Trouser Press |year=2007 |accessdate=March 23, 2013}}

Critical reception

Magnet wrote: "Nine blissfully hypnotic songs circled [Sooyoung] Park's sadness and anger, building up tension and releasing it in a crash of restrained guitars and half-shouted vocals."{{Cite web|url=http://magnetmagazine.com/2009/03/20/lost-classics-seam-the-problem-with-me/|title=Lost Classics: Seam "The Problem With Me"|date=March 20, 2009}} Spin called the album "completely enveloping—a soft swirl of mood music with echoes of loneliness and confusion."{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuuGvMBRrYAC&dq=The+Problem+with+Me+seam+1993+spin&pg=PA22|title=Heavy Rotation|work=SPIN|date=November 1, 1993|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|via=Google Books}}

Legacy

Andrew Earles, in Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996, wrote that the album "would be hugely influential on the first wave of '90s emo bands and related practitioners of semi-popular indie rock" throughout the rest of the decade.

Track listing

{{track listing

| all_writing = Seam

| title1 = Rafael

| length1 = 2:23

| title2 = Bunch

| length2 = 3:26

| title3 = Road to Madrid

| length3 = 5:59

| title4 = Stage 2000

| length4 = 3:28

| title5 = Sweet Pea

| length5 = 3:33

| title6 = Dust and Turpentine

| length6 = 4:09

| title7 = Something's Burning

| length7 = 4:07

| title8 = The Wild Cat

| length8 = 5:24

| title9 = Autopilot

| length9 = 4:28

}}

Personnel

;Seam

  • Lexi Mitchell – bass guitar
  • Sooyoung Park – vocals, guitar
  • Bob Rising – drums
  • Craig White – guitar

;Production and additional personnel

References

{{reflist}}