His Name Is Alive
http://www.hisnameisalive.com
styles: schizo indie with equal parts classic-rock, pop, lounge, funk, &
digital bloopery
others: The Fiery Furnaces, Stereolab, Broadcast, Cranes, The Unicorns
 Detrola
Silver Mountain, 2006
rating: 4/5
reviewer: grantpurdumthegumshoe
Smart, sexy, and full of zip-top-fresh approaches to lounge-rock staid, His Name
Is Alive creep-y-creep-y crawl up and down your spine until there's nothing left
to do but moan, bob, and doop-doop right along with 'em. Veterans of many, many
moons are obviously responsible for Detrola; His Name Is Alive plop their
pedigree – seven albums on 4AD and fifteen-plus years in the big leagues -- on
the table and ante the shit up, twisting and contorting their arrangements
fluently through several genre hoops in search of the perfect synth line; the
perfect bass clarinet stanza; the perfect sax slam; the perfect double-dip vocal
harmony.
When's the last time you heard one of those cutesy, Betty Boop bands with the
way-too-precious singer whose idle posturing fizzled and dissolved like ashes in
your mouth? Oh, it just happened to you? Fuck, I hate that. Quick, take a
swig of cold, icy Detrola. Yes, pronounced like Neeekola, just pretend
you're that douche in the commercial.... Mmhmmm ... Mmhmmmm-aha... See? Didn't
that loosen the phlegm right up? Sure, sure ... What? Oh shit yeah, that WAS a
good episode of Drexel's Class, that one with where he reads Willie's
love poem in front of the whole class ... right, and the kid who played Willie
went on to fuck a pie. Color me prune-purple, I always had a soft spot
for Dabney Coleman; shit, I liked Hot to Trot! In fact, I never
understood why Bobcat Goldthwait never scored any serious dramatic roles after
Hot to. Shit, I'd bang him over Richard Gere any day. Unless we're
talking Richard Gere 20 years ago, but that's just ... that's another story...
But I digress: His Name Is Alive will vex you. So much fluctuation, so many
different avenues, and it all intersects and runs perpendicularly at the perfect
moments! A murky, just-tamped-under Jones for The Beatles and Bowie presents
itself within the piano comps of "Get Your Curse," while souped-up digi-pop
nuggets like "Seven Minutes" channel Le Tigre or Lali Puna with straight
four-beats and perky, nipple-twisting synth salvos. "Send My Face" drops drums
for samples and twinkling harmonica, presenting a fluttering yin to "After I
Leave You"'s floppy, ping-pong-indebted yang. A can't-miss effort, Detrola
confidently goes for the jugular with each new movement, consistently
drawing quick blood from several arteries and spraying blood, bile, and other
unmentionables all over your nice living room carpet while waving at you with a
seductive grin, the perfect contradiction from a band unafraid to get their
hands dirty.
1. The Darkess Night
2. Maybe Again When I Leave U
3. Mama Don't You Think I Know
4. Sometimes Screw
5. Here Forever Always
6. Your Bones
7. You Need A Heart To Live
8. You And Me
9. Summer Left Your Heart Behind
10. Seven Minutes In Heaven
11. I'll Send My Face To Your Funeral
 Someday
My Blues Will Cover the Earth
4AD, 2001
rating: 4/5
reviewer: tiaan
His Name Is Alive's progression over the last decade is a fascinating one. The
band's 4AD debut, Livonia, was a sparse, brooding album that fit in very
well with the 4AD sound of the time. The follow up, 1992's Home Is in Your
Head, found Warn Defever (the man essentially responsible for all of the
groups work and its only consistent member) immensely improving his songwriting
skills and providing a fuller, prettier and more engaging record. The following
album, 1993's Mouth by Mouth, was the first of many significant changes
to HINA's sound. The ethereal melancholy of previous albums was there, but
captured in an poppier, upbeat shell. Each subsequent album further reinvented
the bands sound; 1996's Stars on E.S.P. was an amazing work inspired by
the Beach Boys and A.M. radio, featuring songs from Mark Kozelek and Ian
Masters; 1997's Nice Day E.P. added a Motown feel and featured vocalists
from a gospel choir used briefly on Stars; and 1998's Fort Lake
provided a handful of Rock tracks with the notable addition of the occasional
drum machine or synth and introduced Lovetta Pippen (a member of the Gospel
choir from Stars) as a regular vocalist. Now, three years later, Defever
drops Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth, and if you expected it,
well, you deserve a cookie.
Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth does not sound much like the His
Name Is Alive of past, and it does not sound at all like Indie-Rock. Why?
Because Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth is an R&B record. WHAT?!?
Yes, an R&B record, and a good one at that. While the songs on Blues are
more or less structurally the same as their counterparts on When the Stars
Refuse to Shine (an album featuring early versions of songs from Blues
released on time STEREO two years after Ft. Lake), Defever makes one very
significant addition: drum machines!
The album opens up with its strongest track, "Nothing Special," a bit of a
downer with a restrained, head bobbing beat, pulsating bassline and pretty
melody all sandwiched between a soothing, droning string texture that weaves
itself in and out and all around the track. Pippen is noticeably more at home
singing here than on either Nice Day or Ft. Lake. "Nothing
Special" is followed by one of a few wandering interludes on the album, sounding
much like Flashpap?r with a piano or maybe Defever's latest solo outing, When
Flowers Covered the Earth.
The third track is a departure for HNIA for a different reason: the lyrics are
coherent. Lyrics like "The best thing I've done I've found out / Was losing
you / Now everything I do / Don't Depend on you" are by far the most
straightforward to ever come from the band. When listening to Blues, I
can't help but wonder how much Pippen was involved. Previous HNIA releases were
exclusively Defever driven and have a certain endearing quirkiness; even the
songs written by Masters and Kozelek on Stars were supposedly composed from
lyric sheets passed out by Defever. It's nice to hear HNIA songs that make
sense, but at the same time I feel that something is lost.
The rest of the album follows the template set by the first few tracks with
little variation. "Write My Name in the Groove" is a bubbly number with synth
and bass lines reminiscent of the more playful moments of Ft. Lake and
works rather well; "Your Cheating Heart" has a similar sound but becomes a bit
dull with the ironically fitting repetition of the lyric "Wish you would stop
playing that same old song / It's driving me crazy / Won't you leave it alone."
The drum machines are turned off for "The Last Affair," a lovely, aching song
comparable to the finer moments of When the Stars Refuse to Shine, even
if it is on the cheesy side. The rest of the album finds Defever revisiting old
tunes (with "One Year" from his I Want You to Live 100 Years solo album
and "Are We Still Married" from Home Is in Your Head) as well as
presenting the oddball "Karins Blues," which is the only actual blues track on
the album.
As a whole, Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth works on two different
levels: (1) as a standalone album, it's a reasonably strong R&B effort
(especially considering where it's coming from), skipping from danceable to
gorgeous and back again (2) as another step in the evolution of a noteworthy
band, it's even better, displaying yet another aspect of Warn Defever's talent
as a producer and musician.
1. Nothing Special
2. Interlude
3. Happy Blues
4. Solitude
5. Write My Name in the Groove
6. Your Cheating Heart
7. Our Last Affair
8. One Year
9. Interlude
10. Karins Blues
11. Are We Still Married
12. Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth
13. Last Time
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