| They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? + Helen Money | The Soundpost, 108 High St, 2nd floor, Portland | 8 pm Aug 5 | $5-10 donation |
Much like Dr. Dog, Vancouver’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? fall into the small camp of well-regarded bands making rather poorly received albums. Their new release, Pick Up Sticks (Kill Rock Stars), is a rowdy but largely lifeless muddle. The six-to-nine-piece make recordings that build up from a Wire-y post-punk foundation, piling strident vocals and a deluge of brass into the fray. No problem in theory, but the album’s flat production betrays what ought to be a dynamic sound. As songs become weirder or more complicated, they only get louder; They Shoot Horses are the rare band whose recordings are considered more raw than their live performances.And really, there’s no reason why Sunday’s gig at The Soundpost won’t be a great one. The band’s music creates a carnival atmosphere, courtesy of the whimsical dance between keyboards and horns, and singer Nut Brown’s lightheaded yelp as he weaves angry/nervous cautionary tales. Some live reviews cite a trombonist playing from the crowd, a logical extension of some of the band’s art-school background. Moreover, Pick Up Sticks’s greatest problems are indicative of the band’s primary strengths: they’re so boisterous and cluttered, maybe they just haven’t yet found an album to contain them.
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Topics:
New England Music News
, Chris Gray, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Helen Money
