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release date: january 24, 2006
His Name Is Alive have a new CD coming out! Holy crap!
Long-time copacetic zine readers will no doubt recall that I have a long history with this band. As I wrote about in issue three of our paper issue, I got the opportunity to interview the band when I was a mere 15-years-old, and my Mom had to drive me to the interview and then sit with me through the whole squirm-worthy ordeal. And then, of course, I was lucky to interview them again at the ripe old age of 20. That time, I drove myself.
So HNIA and their aloof, mysterious mastermind, Mr. Warn Defever have a special place in my heart, and I was so thrilled to see they have a new full-length album out! The band have parted ways with 4AD Records, which is admittedly a little weird to me since they've always been so strongly connected to the iconic label. But, they retain the same eclectic, experimental sound that made them such a perfect fit for 4AD in the first place. (And their website design owes a lot to v23!) Detrola is the first release of Warn's new label, Silver Mountain Media Group. (Some of their upcoming releases include Ida, Saturday Looks Good To Me, and some live HNIA material!)
The album begins with the sparse "Introduction", a short eerie track that ends with a weird burst of audience applause before bleeding into the bluesy-electronic-pop (yes, you read that right) of "After I Leave U". Fans of the aforementioned Saturday Looks Good To Me will adore the 60's-pop groove of "I Thought I Saw", which begins with a Carole King-esque piano sound and features some swingin' saxophone from Elliott. SLGTM fans will also adore the glorious "Get Your Curse", which might be my favorite song on the whole CD. "Your Bones" is a simple acoustic number that harkens back to the atmospheric sounds of the band's early releases like 1990's Livonia. And, hello, what is track 7 titled? "C*A*T*S*"! YEAH! (The track itself is beautiful in an electronic-Broadcast-esque way!)
The one misstep is "Seven Minutes", a "funky" electronic Beck-like number with jazzy saxophone freak-outs and the soulful vocals of Lovetta Pippen, the girl who replaced my beloved Karin Oliver as Warn's female vocalist of choice back in 2000, and whose contributions to 1998's Ft. Lake were some of my least favorite tracks on that disc. Ick.
Thankfully, Lovetta rarely appears on this CD, and a new vocalist named Andrea is at the forefront, whose lovely plaintive voice reminds me a lot of Karin. Throughout all the different styles, textures, and noises that Detrola explores, her voice ties these 11 tracks (well, 10, anyway) together in a bow that is distinctively His Name Is Alive's. (janice.01.06)
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