Long before Frog, there was a group of buddies running an obscure folk adjacent group called Uncles. The group was led by Dan Bateman of Frog and Will Schwartz, with Tom White, and Duncan Berry supporting. If you’re anything like me, you’d have gotten to known them when you started to run out of Frog material to listen to.

Replacing Words with Other Words, the first album from the group, gave a glimpse at how exactly these uncles see their world with the songs often telling stories through recalling scattered memories similar to how you would when walking past emotionally significant side streets. Uncles kneads the most mundane situations into layered poetry, occasionally throwing a strange sexual retort that you inevitably double-take at on the third listen, but then because of how well-executed it was it becomes your favorite part of the song to slyly mouth to yourself.

Deaf Dumb Dog, the highlight for Schwartz on the first record, is likely the perfect example of it, supplemented by the expansive instrumentation from the group, all easing down for Schwartz to solemnly declare the final lines “Show em’ how the earth / Spit that dog back up / Show em’ how the earth / Rejected him”. Schwartz and Bateman's songs both have very distinct styles in writing, with Schwartz opting for a more through-composed body of work where there is no clear chorus,