| Vampire Hands - Me and You Cherry Red |
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| Written by Steve McPherson | |
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:35 PM | |
 Vampire Hands Me and You Cherry Red Peppermint Coffins After experiencing Vampire Hands' many-limbed, sprawlingly chaotic set at South by Southwest, I thought myself well-prepared for their newest album, Me and You Cherry Red. On record, though, Vampire Hands are a considerably more nuanced, though no less compelling band. In the roaring swirl of their live show, it's possible to pick out bits and pieces of subtler melodic threads in the songs, but throughout Me and You Cherry Red, these elements step forward. Here, the band displays a fine sense of detail and texture as the record opens up slowly to show its treasures. Bassist Chris Bierden's softly sweet voice is pushed to the fore on "No Fun," lending the song a distinctly Beatles-esque sheen that only gets glossier when tiny gusts of backwards acoustic guitar lead the song to its close. Chris Rose's chiming electric work in the middle section recalls nothing so much as Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary," but despite these '60s touches, the song sounds resolutely modern in conception, connected by strands to current artists like Panda Bear, Menomena, and Caribou. The same extends to the record as a whole, which flirts with lo-fi and experimental textures even as it pins the songs to hummable melodies. Stream "Friendship Road" from Me And You Cherry Red It should come as no surprise that a band with, essentially, two drummers (Colin Johnson stands up live, but still plays a tom, a snare, and various samplers while he sings) would build a lot of their songs around rhythmic foundations, and so "Heat-Fire" is little more than a chant spun out over a drunkenly descending keyboard line and insistent acoustic guitar. The album's most compelling track, "Friendship Road," begins in that mode, sounding more like a field recording of tribal drums than the work of a hirsute quartet of dudes from the Midwest. About a minute in, though, an odd thing happens: A pulsing and ominous note straight out of a David Lynch movie wedges itself in under the drums, eventually pushing them out of the frame before clicks and buzzes leak in, turning the song over into the hum of a late summer afternoon. It's a mysterious track, but completely beguiling, and a fine example of how Vampire Hands has consistently made the right choices over the album's short 24-minute running time; nothing overstays its welcome and each track manages to give off the reflected glow of careful attention without seeming overly mannered. This record so short on length is long on atmosphere. It's not going to grab you by the lapels in the same way as their dynamic and explosive live show, and I doubt that it has anything resembling a single that could crack very many stations' playlists, but Me and You Cherry Red is a dusty little gem of a record with a fine balance of electronic and organic elements, of sprawling fuzziness and concise melodies, of expansive experimentation and straightforward songwriting. The chatter and hum of bloggers across the country singing your praises may be a mixed blessing, but Vampire Hands had better get used to it. Watch a live performance of the song "Queen Juno" filmed by Neurocameraman Vampire Hands' MySpace COMING UP: Vampire Hands play the CD release show for Me And You Cherry Red on Friday, March 21, at the Turf Club . With opening acts Private Dancer, MC/VL, Gospel Gossip. 9 p.m. $6. 21+. |
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| Last Updated: Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 06:29 PM |
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