Local music, good music
I semi-recently went to see a new band for the first time; I’m connected to the band by one of my best friends in the world, who is in a relationship with the bass player. As a result of an awesome performance, I made sure to pick up their CD “for home use” so to speak, and I’m very glad I did.
The band’s name is the band in Heaven; they’re a West Palm Beach, FL-based shoegaze/dreampop band, and though their CD is much shorter than I wish (and probably well-advisedly minus their very, very good cover of The Cranberries), it is amazing. Admittedly, my knowledge of shoegaze and dreampop is not very extensive, but I like to believe that I know quality music when I hear it. To my uneducated ears, the band in Heaven reminds me of my favorite qualities in songs I love by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Von Bondies, and Sonic Youth. Their music has a high degree of technical expertise, while still being powerfully elemental; there’s high, driving energy, without the mania that sometimes ends up as the by-product.
For example, Sleazy Dreams, the first track on the album, dives right into a maelstrom of color; dreamy, indistinct vocals contrast with heavy guitar, bass and wonderfully dense and layered percussion. The breakdown in the song goes into an almost Willy Wonka-esque moment of spinning confusion and dissonance, before a “day in the life”-like several beats, and then back into the hurricane.
Sludgy Dreams, the CD’s end-cap and counter-point to Sleazy Dreams, saps some of the tense, muscling energy away in favor of richer tones, more deliberate rhythm; the song feels as though it goes on for much longer, in a good way—the sort of song that, if you listened to it while intoxicated, you would think has been on in the background for months, years—and you’re only just now able to appreciate it.
Summer Bummer, the third track, comes the closest to a “manic” feel of any of the songs on the CD—it has a feel like a train thundering down the tracks, into a tunnel (complete with eerie echoes and reverb); the rhythm section avoids the manic feel that the song could end up with the kind of measured, careful precision that I’m coming to believe (after two live shows and several listens to the CD) is one of the band’s defining characteristics.
If you’re interested in seeing what I mean, you should absolutely check them out here: http://thebandinheaven.bandcamp.com/album/hozac-7 You can buy the album there, as well.
You can also find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thebandinheaven
And, if you live in Austin, they are playing multiple shows during SXSW this year, so definitely see about checking them out there, too.
