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Oh, man, I have been looking forward to this show for months! It's Harris' CD release party, and they have put together the perfect bill: all the other bands are friends of theirs, none of them sound anything like each other, and all of them kind of sound like Harris. Or at least like something Harris can do. It's excellent. First up are Pants Yell! A three-piece, they make pretty, lightweight pop songs with an oddly '50s feel about them. The singer is a bit hard to hear, but his voice is sweet. The whole band, in fact, is sweet and soothing. A little hard to get excited about, but it goes down easy.
Next are Junius, who have a heavier and artier sound. Blazing bass lines anchor these songs, while guitars and vocals, heavy with delay and reverb, shimmer all over the top of it. It's a moody, atmospheric effect (which they play up, as always, with blue lights onstage). Their songs are epic compositions, with lots of different movements and tempo changes. The vocals have kind of an attenuated Britpop tone to them that suits the songs very well. It's a spacey, dreamy set, and easy to get lost in.
Reverse are a more visceral experience, and it is interesting to note the turnover in the people crowded around the front of the stage between bands this evening. Reverse are a Hard Rock band, with a pulverizingly loud drummer and lots of distorted guitar. They also sing sweet, catchy songs, with lots and lots of really good harmony, and the guitar is never wanky or inappropriate for the context of the song; it's tasty and tasteful Hard Rock. It is also, tonight, getting more complicated than I've heard it be in the past, with some interesting shifting rhythms creeping in and mixing things up. They manage to write in ten without sacrificing any of the head-banging, horns-throwing, shout-along fun that motivates them.
Finally, Harris are up to synthesize all the different threads of the evening, arty and poppy and catchy and raucous. Their record release party has sold out, their fans are vociferous in our love, and all is right with the world. They seem really happy and humbled, and they return the favor by playing us the new album in its entirety. (Although not in order; they move the obvious candidate "hit" to just before the even more obvious set-closing epic.) Not everyone is entirely pleased by this decision: one loud, drunk fan screams for one particular older song during every pause, which goes from funny to annoying to, eventually, funny again. But I am entirely pleased. This is the first time I've seen them since I heard the album (which I got an early copy of, press weasel that I am), and it's a delight to hear how they play with the songs. The drummer, in particular, is wild tonight, with new and interesting fills in several songs. And the one song that the keyboard player sings lead on has a weird extended rant that I've never been able to catch any part of; tonight it seems to be about the microphone, and wondering who in which opening band did what to it, which makes me question whether that rant is ex tempore every time. I need to pay more attention, apparently. I like a band that rewards a lot of attention. As I mentioned, they close with "Captain," the sing-along epic, and the entire crowd sings along lustily, even after the band finishes.
