"Anyone who has ever been in a band knows why," says frontman Dean Wareham of the breakup. "This is what bands do. There was no incident, no fight, or anything like that. We've been around for a long time. If you look at the other bands that stay together this...

Ten stark songs distinguished by a downbeat grace, On Fire offers a new wrinkle in American guitar rock: Where most bands gallop, Galaxie 500's slow, slow songs remind you that momentum is a function of mass as well as velocity.

Dean Wareham's disembodied, echoing voice drifts tantalizingly among the music's yawning spaces; it's quite a trick to bury vocals in such minimal bass-drums-guitar...