Tribal rhythms and electronica that’s less ‘electronic‘, and more ‘physical‘ or ‘real‘, have made serious in-roads into alternative music in the last year-plus, from January 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion (QRO review) by Animal Collective on the more electronic side of things, to last January’s Odd Blood (QRO review) by Yeasayer on the harder end. But these sounds still get the criticism of being too inaccessible, especially on first listen, and it does take a while to enjoy & appreciated acts like Animal Collective & Yeasayer (despite hipsters who will call whatever they do ‘amazing‘ after the first note, just because they’re what’s hot right now…). What it all needs is something that’s easier on the ears – and mind. That’s where Holy Hail comes in with The Dying (After) Party EP.
The New York outfit has been turning heads since 2008’s debut full-length, Independent Pleasure Club, opening for acts like The Gossip (though that was the band’s second show ever), The Rapture & The Kills, and they’ve managed to keep their electric/rock mix without sounding like those electric/rock bands. Last year’s The Dying Party EP took their sound a step further in complexity, but threatened to fall into the aforementioned inaccessible trap. That’s why follow-up (After) is so welcome, as it invites everyone to the Party.
Not that it’s really a ‘party‘ record – Holy Hail are still intricate enough to avoid the overt, and there’s a distance to the EP in its echoes, from the epic call of opener "Riverine" on through. The sustain can veer into the garage at times, such as the almost country-like portions of "Riverine", where co-vocalist Cat Hartwell comes to the fore, to the quieter and less special "On Tippy Toes". (After) does swerve between the more atmos-tech such as "Painted Bird" and more rock-grounded "Days of Metro", but can also meet somewhere in the middle, like the jungle beats-with-rock underpinnings "Feels Like Forever". Which side you like more depends on the listener, but the speed of "Days" and echo-sustain base of "Good Intentions" can be praised by anyone.
The tribal rhythms and empty room echoes of "Antioch" can feel a bit like a poor man’s Animal Collective (and the Jam Station Remix of "Antioch" that ends the EP can feel like a poor man’s Animal Collective remix), but that’s not necessarily a knock. Not only have A.C. received some of the highest critical acclaim out there (was it all deserved? That’s another story…), but Holy Hail have managed to make those sounds accessible to the rest of us on The Dying (After) Party EP (and earned a slot opening for the very-hot-right-now Florence & The Machine – QRO photos, on tour with Holy HailQRO review). They said the same thing about author Philip K. Dick, "A poor man’s Pynchon", but look at all the success Dick has had, not just in film adaptations (from Bladerunner to Total Recall to The Minority Report), but in his body of work – one of the ‘authors whose books are most likely to be stolen‘ – despite having been dead for almost thirty years…
