While you may not have heard of it, Spiderland is probably one of your favorite indie artist’s favorite albums. The 1991 record by the experimental math rock band Slint is a majestic and mysterious experience that conveys a wide range of emotion and experience through its twisting narratives and irregular melodies.

The album was highly influential on several artists and genres that came after, bridging the gap between the post punk and prog rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s and the more contemporary styles of emo, indie, post rock and math rock that developed later on.While mainstream media overlooked it at release, it has become somewhat of a cult classic and large source of inspiration for underground artists that emerged after.

Spiderland is one of the founding and defining albums of the math rock genre, a genre defined by time signatures, rhythms and songwriting that deviate from traditional rock and punk. The team that played on Spiderland consisted of Brian McMahan on vocals and guitar, David Pajo on guitar, Todd Brashear on bass and Britt Walford on drums, vocals and guitar.

While they wrote using instruments traditional of rock and punk at the time, Slint’s music stands out from more traditional songwriting in that they made use of several different time signatures (the opening track “Breadcrumb Trail” starts in 7/4 time and throughout the song hops between 7/4, 4/4, 12/4, and 15/8), shifts and melodies that frequently change, stop, or go in completely different directions.

The album holds up not only on its technically impressive instrumentation, but also its imaginative and unique songwriting. Spiderland doesn’t focus on the real world or the members themselves, but tells a series of abstract stories, such as the track “Don, Aman” which tells the story of a drunk man walking out of a bar, reflecting on his own actions (“He thought about something he said/And how stupid it had sounded/He should forget about it”) and viewing the world around him with sadness.

The stories are generally delivered through McMahan’s irregular vocals that range from the mumbling spoken word dialogue that serves as a background for the instrumentation to outbursts of shouting vocals that serve as emotional peaks throughout the album. One standout track is the final song,“Good Morning, Captain” which tells the story of a captain who is shipwrecked by a storm that killed his entire crew. The track eventually culminates into McMahan shouting “I miss you” at the top of his lungs, ending Spiderland on a final emotional high that sticks with the listener for a long time.

Spiderland is an album that is worth listening to not only as a technically impressive piece of experimental music or as a highly influential genre defining album, but as an overall experience that deviates from traditional music and both challenges a listener while delivering emotional and exciting stories and vocals. Some listeners may be turned away from the general lack of catchy melodies or the shying away from “safe” songwriting, but for anyone interested in experiencing music as a form of art or exploring more of what music has to offer, Spiderland is an absolutely essential and seminal album to listen to.