Simplicity is one of the toughest tropes for a good musician to master. Good musicians tend to be, well, good, and in their writing and playing they often artfully complicate their music—with revelatory key changes, daring note choices, intriguing metrical shifts. Those who do without bells and whistles run the risk of slipping across the thin line that separates Zenlike focus from tediousness. Brilliant bands like the Modern Lovers and the Clean are distinguished from the packs of three-chord songwriters stalking open mikes only by an intangible spark of originality that’s pretty much impossible to develop on purpose.
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Keeping it simple is no small task for Case’s fellow guitarist, Jonathan Van Herik. He’s a fan of intricately crafted pop like the Kinks and the Zombies, and he’s got the skills to emulate it—so when he writes his parts for the band he has to fight the impulse to get fancy, ruthlessly editing out any frills that creep in. “It’s a struggle sometimes to come up with all of the different things that could be in there, and then suck them out,” he says. “Every month it dawns on me that I could be playing even less.”
Every song on their new album, Lux (Kranky), is shorter than four minutes, but they’re really only radio friendly in that department. You won’t step away from the album with a head full of hooks—you’re more likely to end up carrying around a dark lump of tension. “The atmosphere is really everything,” Case says. The songs’ repeated phrases rarely resolve themselves harmonically, and the lavish use of reverb amplifies this taut, suspended feeling—the band sounds like it’s charging at you from across the room but never getting any closer, and Case’s vocals seem to be coming from the bottom of a well.
“The big challenge,” Case says, “is not repeating ourselves. The more you pare back and the more you strip away . . . “
I did. He’s right.
Sat 4/17, 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8, 21+.
