The Black Heart Procession
Wednesday 06 November @ 09:35:33 |
 by Celeste Tabora
Watching the overly-excited hosts of MTV’s “Spankin’ New Music Week” makes me glad to tell you that there are bands out there that counteract the sugary-sweet confections of commercial radio or TV. One of the best examples of such a group is Black Heart Procession. I don’t think any one of those caffeinated MTV hosts could properly introduce this band in their usual shouting, wide-eyed way. No, this band needs someone with an air of dignity and poise to give them an intro…
Upon the breakup of their previous avant-garde project, Three Mile Pilot, in 1997, Pall A. Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel hung around to start a new band. The duo recruited Mario Rubalcaba of Clickitat Ikatowi and Rocket from the Crypt’s Jason Crane as studio percussionists. They called the resulting group Black Heart Procession. Caustic Resin drummer Joe Plumer, and an already-occasional-collaborator, keyboardist Dimitri “Roman” Deswiski, joined BHP’s ranks for tours in the South and on the East Coast.
Black Heart Procession conjures a musical atmosphere like that of your darkest, most morbid emotions. At the same time, their sound makes you feel as though you’ve climbed aboard a secret neo-pirate ship, one hosting a party soundtracked with heavy, pure, and slow-churning rock and roll. BHP gives a new face to melancholy rock.
The new album by this San Diego band, Amore Del Tropico, is built around a murder mystery. (It is also, incidentally, the first in the band’s three-album oeuvre to sport a title.) An accompanying DVD will be out later this year on the band’s label, Touch And Go Records, and each song on Amore Del Tropico will have it’s own video. If you are interested in previewing any of it, you can download yourself a sneak peak on the label’s Web site.
Although a hasty listener may dismiss BHP’s music as merely depressing, that melancholy, morbid feeling is just the tip of the iceberg for this dynamic band. Amore Del Tropico has lots of little treats added onto the dark sound we’re used to from the band, like strings and female backing vocals; that additional instrumentation can provide everything a subtropical Latin feel, to a canted emotion that is just slightly hopeful, to a stirring and immensely uplifting sound. Within the folds of every moody chord progression; in the hum of the singing saw; and in the progression of the lyrics that tell stories of heart-wrenching and failed love, you can inhale the moody feel of the effort. But it’s the atypical instrumentation that shapes the band’s sound more than anything else. That singing saw, a whaling device called a Waterphone, and various synthesizers omitting unusual sounds make for a tonal pallet almost unheard of in pop music.
BHP’s live show transports you to a different world altogether—a romantic world in a tragic time. It’s dark, and perhaps you’re drunk in this world; you’re definitely lonely but haven’t lost all hope yet, and you are searching for some peace. It’s definitely mood music, meant to be heard without the whispering and sans the talking that usually occurs in a rock music venue. The music is surreal: it kind of makes you feel more voyeuristic, transparent, like a ghost looking over its loved ones with a sad longing.
If misery loves company, this band is the perfect accompaniment to your winter blues—especially for those who consider themselves fans of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Slint, and Joel Phelps.
The Black Heart Procession plays Sun., Nov. 10, at the 400 Bar with Califone. 8 p.m. $10. 21+. 400 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-332-2903.
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