I’ve been listening to a lot of… I guess it’s called “post-rock”, lately. Without going off on a tangent on why “post-rock” is a horrible term… let’s just say that I’ve been enjoying more complex beats and rhythms, layered compositions and, when applicable, my usual taste for the juxtaposition of crushing heaviness and beautiful harmony. I picked up the latest Pelican album, City of Echoes, from Underground Sounds when I was in Ann Arbor a few months ago, along with Maserati’s Inventions for the New Season (top notch) and a tip from the owner to check out Ypsilanti-natives Red Light Chamber Choir (a little derivative of some Constellation bands, but definitely worth (more than) the price).
So, back to City of Echoes. It’s a good album; I’ve listened to it countless times since. It’s lighter than their other stuff, from what I’m told (it’s the first I’ve heard of theirs), so perhaps they are on a similar trajectory as their obvious influence, Isis. Though, it reminds me, curiously, of a band that I haven’t thought about in a while, The Honor System. Incidentally, both bands hail from Chicago, which may have more than a little to do with their similar influences and sounds.
Tracks like City of Echoes, Spaceship Broken – Parts Needed, and Far from Fields sound reminiscent of the slower, meandering, instrumental parts in The Honor System’s songs like Facelift, and Flight from their first album, Single File. Released in 2000 by Asian Man Records, the album was somewhat ahead of it’s time, and also a little out of place on its label. While their sound was a logical extension of previous Asian Man band, The Broadways—they shared both guitarist/singer Dan Hanaway and drummer Rob DePaola—on a label full of upbeat pop-punk and ska releases, especially during the oversaturation and subsequent fall of ska(core), one can imagine they had a hard time finding an audience, especially with their slower, heavier, more complex post-punk/rock/metal leanings.
For example, their use of jarring, repeated, monotonic guitar riffs towards the end of Facelift (@2:35) pre-dates Isis’ similar approach in Deconstructing Towers (@2:50) on their 2001 album Celestial, although, staying true to their punk roots, The Honor System’s take is shorter and faster. Even the guitar tones foreshadow (modern) post-rock, particularly Pelican, with cleaner leads poking holes of harmony through the wall of dense distortion provided by the rhythm guitar, with a wandering bass line behind it. The drums are slightly more standard, supporting the conventional verse structure, which is punctuated by more experimental, instrumental interludes instead of choruses. If you were remove all the vocals from Single File (which I would highly discourage, as they’re wonderful) I suspect it would sound very similar to City of Echoes.
Anyway, since I started looking up The Honor System again, I found out that Dan and Honor System bassist Chris Carr have re-conspired with a new band, Whale|Horse, and just released an album, Count the Electric Sheep (er, on closer inspection it was released back in late 2006). My copy just arrived, and I can’t wait to listen.