|
(Review) Bad Luck City : "Adelaide" |
|
|
|
|
Written by Tom Murphy
|
Bad Luck City: Adelaide
Self-released, 2008
The latest record from Denver’s Bad Luck City dares to provide the kind of music you would hear in a classic film noir written by someone who took up where Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler left off.
Yes, it contains moments of sweeping dramatics and emotional catharsis but all of those theatrics are aimed to heighten tense atmospheres that resolve into dark reflections on the underbelly of society and the forbidden places of the human heart.
Musically, the band clearly draws inspiration from Nick Cave, especially his 1996 release, Murder Ballads. Except that Bad Luck City are generally much more somber and introspective-sounding throughout this record.
Things start off with the funeral drumbeat and distant, lightly strummed guitar and violin plinks of “The Night Before” where vocalist Dameon Merkl nearly whisper-speaks the lyrics like he’s reading the dying words of a doomed man by candlelight on a dark, foggy night.
“Bones” begins more portentously with a high degree of tension and menace from all corners. Soon enough the song sweeps up into a hysterical frenzy of atmospheric sounds that dissipate at exactly right moments like the sudden thunderstorms of the Colorado spring. Merkl muses about an after-the-fact murder, addressing the lyrics to his victim to be. It’s a chilling song that excites at the same time.
Vocals creep in first with “Suspect” joined soon by minimal percussion and violin lines hanging in the air like lingering smoke. It’s a song about a lost love but it’s never simple love with this band. The narrator speaks of the little details and ends with “I regret that you deserved a good man, but found me, instead.” The hint, perhaps, being that he had helped in the corruption and, just maybe, the destruction of a good, spirited woman with his own wickedness.
“Stealth,” sounds like it’s about a man who, through delusion or in reality, hunts the monsters of the world and takes them down with a combination of drunken bravado and deadly skill. It’s the first to include a duet, this time with Hailey Helmericks of experimental rock band Monofog.
Throughout this record are recurring musical themes that maintain an air of dread and mystery and they can be heard in most of the songs.
Kelly O’Dea’s violin weaves a sometimes spooky, sometimes eerie climate, soaring over everything else going on, occasionally whipping into a frenzy of emotionally charged atmospheres to accent the proper moments. Gregor Kammerer’s and Joshua Perry’s guitars sound as one, giving a grit and shimmer to every song that echo and linger like ghosts and that crash and cry out plaintively like restless spirits haunting every moment they’re present in a song.
Andrew Warner’s drums set the pacing and frame the whole with subtle textures. Yessit Arocho’s bass aptly supports a song where it needs emphasis.
This complex and balanced approach is what allows for the music to perfectly accompany the dark, odd sentimental tales of madness, scandal, murder, death corruption, dissipation and despair.
There isn’t a happy or hopeful song on this entire release. Yet this band manages to make each song seethe with an undeniable vitality and life as though strong feelings, experiences and life itself, even with its lowest moments, is ultimately meaningful.
In telling these stories, Bad Luck City gives voice and dignity to even the most downtrodden of us. In that, there is the hidden hope implicit in the album’s harrowing themes.
Trackback(0)
 |
Tom Murphy |
| About the author: |
|
Tom Murphy is a long-time fan and historian of the Denver scene. In
addition to contributing to numerous local publications, he is working
on a history of underground music in Denver.
|
| Read more... | |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Get Rhythm 
Post New Event
