While other bands from the period take reissues as a chance to reunite, tour and possibly write some new music, this is completely out of the question for Silkworm: the band does not exist anymore, and cannot exist. Cohen, Midyett and Dahlquist continued on as a trio after Phelps’ departure, releasing six more fine albums (with quality never particularly waning from 1994’s Libertine) until July 2005 when drummer Dahlquist was tragically killed in a crash caused by another motorist who was attempting to commit suicide by driving into Dahlquist’s car from behind. Friends and fellow musicians John Glick and Douglas Meis were also killed, but the driver of the other vehicle survived. Silkworm never made another record. Cohen and Midyett went on to form Bottomless Pit: “The only reason Bottomless Pit exists is because Michael died” – the words of Midyett, eight years on from his friend’s death and in his first interview in that entire period. In other words, the only reason Silkworm doesn’t exist is because Michael isn’t here.

Listening to Libertine and knowing what comes next will always make hearing that record, in the words of Phelps, a bittersweet experience to some extent but it doesn’t have to be like that. The album is terrific: four high school friends having a freewheeling, hedonistic and, err, liberating time making a record that was brilliantly captured by another high school alumnus (Steve Albini, of course, with his Shellac bandmate Bob Weston overseeing the re-mastering of the tapes for this reissue). With three song writers in the band, Silkworm had variety in spades but a consistency of quality that really does make you wonder why they didn’t quite garner the same amount of attention as touring chums Pavement, and stayed something of a cult for over twenty years. While freewheeling, the quartet always hit harder than Malkmus and co, who they were always unfairly lumped in with. Midyett’s bass playing bears comparison with Bob Weston’s low-end playing in Shellac and behind the kit the bare-chested Dahlquist battered away at his kit – which had a larger-than-life kick drum – like his very future depended on it. Cohen and Phelps have their own song writing voices and guitar styles to match: put it together and you had a band that bridged the gap between the early years of post-rock and college rock.

So Libertine was and is the sound of a band that, while enjoying the hell out of their lives, was battling themselves and their own personal issues. Andy Cohen kicked the record off with the brutal Second World War referencing (albeit obliquely) “There Is A Party In Warsaw Tonight”, all bass and drums and off-kilter guitars and he followed it up with his second, and final, song of Libertine, “Grotto of Miracles”. That song consists of long and languid Built to Spill soloing interspersed with bitter-as-fuck lyrics like “look at him / a crawling worm / his guts are all filled with dirt” and from two tracks you already get an idea of Cohen’s issues. When Midyett takes over with “Cotton Girl” it’s almost a relief to hear this direct writing voice atop a thrilling, straight-ahead indie rock anthem. Cohen and Phelps’ guitars are in incredible unison, creating a wall of riffing that Midyett casually drawls over – that drawl perhaps the reason Silkworm got unfairly labelled as slacker rock, especially as he’s the one who dominates the writing on the album. Midyett is also responsible for the track that provides the title for the sweet documentary about the band; “Couldn’t You Wait” is just as anthemic as his previous contribution but there’s a nervous energy about the cyclical riff that puts you that little bit on edge. And that feeling dominates the ending of the record as well as the bassist contributes the final three songs: “Written on the Wind” is a slowcore dirge interrupted by clattering drums fills and Midyett sounding as urgent as he ever did, “Wild In My Day” is a stunning detuned jam that finds the four members of Silkworm interlocking in a way that’s rarely matched on Libertine and closing track “Bloody Eyes” is about as life-affirming as you can get, despite Midyett’s portentous refrain of “the dream is a lie”.

The contribution of Phelps should not be forgotten despite the band existing for longer and releasing more music as a three-piece; the guitarist was responsible for many of the heavier moments such as the Big Black-style muscle and creep of “Yen + Janet Forever”, plus the introspection of “Oh How We Laughed” and he could even join Midyett in the anthemic with the likes of “The Cigarette Lighters” despite his occasionally off-putting whine of a vocal. Despite Phelps going on to record solo records with the Downer Trio he never really found the quality he brought to Silkworm – but then again, the WRM would never have managed to continue on to 2005 if he’d stuck around to watch Midyett, Cohen and Dahlquist really gel as a trio.

As it’s a reissue word should be given to the extra material here; we have two extra tracks from the Pachyderm Studio sessions that produced Libertine. “Insider” is a gloomy number that introduces piano into the band dynamic and while it’s a lovely ballad it doesn’t fit with the album’s overall feel, and we have an alternate take of “Grotto of Miracles” which surpasses the album version in weight and authority. There’s also three tracks from what’s called the Marco Collins Sessions: “Scruffy Tumor” is a beautiful and messy acoustic track with a powerful vocal from Cohen, an outline of “Cotton Girl” that’s the coal from which the diamond version was formed from and a gorgeous stripped-down “Raised by Tigers” that paved the way for Phelps’ direction post-SKWRM.

Silkworm would go on to make the brilliant and aggressive Firewater next, a document of three guys battling each other and their own issues as they tried to find a future for their band. That future was applying a post-punk aesthetic to classic rock grooves as played by Crazy Horse, and it was a delight right up until It’ll Be Cool tragically turned out to be their final document.

In a discussion about his career with Steve Albini, Midyett said this about Silkworm: “I don’t know of too many bands who kept doing what the Worm did at that level, consistently, for that long. For better or worse.” And that sums up why the band feels to me like they’ve been largely ignored for the past twenty years when contemporaries on Touch and Go/Quarterstick (Brainiac, Slint, Jesus Lizard, Rodan et al) garnered all the critical acclaim. True to themselves and be damned the consequences. Libertine came from sticking to their guns: 46 minutes of the best US rock music you’ve never heard. Now it’s time to sort that out.