I’m not sure exactly when Hiss & Chambers made the jump from Arts District opening gigs to WCYY success and frequent sets at the Big Easy, but it sure was quick and effective; there were loads of unfamiliar faces at SPACE Gallery Friday night, and they all seemed to know the content of the band’s as-of-then unreleased Making Eyes EP pretty well.
The band are an unlikely but ultimately logical choice for local popularity; Portland certainly can’t get enough of ’80s music, and Hiss & Chambers are the only band in town (save Satellite Lot) recording original music wholly indebted to a random sampling of classic new-wave acts. They’re slick, polished, and don’t miss a beat; that’s pretty much my problem with them.
My minority opinion of Hiss & Chambers is, sadly, best summed up by former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale: there’s no sex in your violence. This is a bummer of an irony regarding a band whose songs are mostly about girls. The songs play out like post-punk lite: nice guitar atmosphere, not enough bass presence, and predictable percussion. Each song inevitably peaks with nearly identical, cymbal-heavy dance-punk beats and has an awkward hook that seems to exist just so there’s some sing-a-long potential (“She likes to pray,” “Why do you cry?,” the Bon Jovi-esque “I’m sticking to it/This is my story”). It’s honestly all ably performed and delivered with energy, so the crowd’s enthusiastic response and the surplus of dancing ladies weren’t all that surprising. In my case, though, the band’s lack of idiosyncrasy and ambition left me feeling cold, bored, and worst of all, snobby.
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Those of us aching for a 300-page treatise about the crippling implications of the "build your own scramble" at Local 188 won't, at first glance, find a great deal of solace in Jonah Lehrer's second book, How We Decide.
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At SPACE Gallery, March 6
- They’ve got Advil, don’t they?
Maybe they just haven’t yet found an album to contain them.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Chris Gray, Gavin Rossdale, Bon Jovi
