Music seen at Empire Dine and Dance, January 25, 2008
By IAN PAIGE | January 30, 2008
Honey Clouds |
At last! Honey Clouds, an indie-rock four-piece full of familiar faces, emerged from their year-long gestation to play their first show.
A new band, and at a new venue to boot. Upstairs at the Empire turns out to be a great place to see a show. Beautiful, high, exposed ceilings but with low beams and strange dim sconces make the atmosphere of this second-floor stage kind of like an inverse basement party.
You’ll recognize singer/guitarist Trey Hughes and lead hatchet-man Ron Harrity from the dearly departed Harpswell Sound. This reincarnation is a welcome one. In his former band, Hughes used his jilted monotone with quiet humility, now evolved into a Pavement-esque breadth of expression, even reaching for the brazen heights of the Fall’s Mark E. Smith on Honey Clouds’ faster, poppier tunes.
Those songs are where Ron “Secret Weapon” Harrity shines as well. His exceptional guitar picking most often lives comfortably within a clean amplifier, but his array of pedals propels the pop gems into something more like Built to Spill’s far-flung moments. On “Spinning From Tops” he managed to take center stage without leaving the shadows during an insanely noisy solo. “Weathering” saw the band at their peak performance. Mandy Wheeler, last seen in Diamond Sharp, revealed polished bass guitar skills, proving her sabbatical from the stage was worth the time. Sean Wilkinson debuted with an easygoing light touch on the drums that pushed the songs to pop while leaving plenty of room for the guitars.
Honey Clouds play next on February 16 at SPACE Gallery with Company and Modern Syndrome.
On the Web
Honey Clouds: www.myspace.com/honeyclouds
Related:
Other peas in the pod, Falling into you, A Peapod grows in Portland, More 
- Other peas in the pod
In addition to the Brown Bird and Dead End Armory albums here are two recent Peapod releases
- Falling into you
Between Ron Harrity's skills as recording engineer, label guru (Peapod Recordings), and guitarist/sideman, he's racking up an impressive resume (see the accompanying review of the Isobell record for more details), and the new Honey Clouds record just adds to the list.
- A Peapod grows in Portland
Harrity’s albums sound like the work of an invisible hand, and it’s apparent that he likes it that way.
- Okay, I’m Biased
Is our local music scene actually better because so little national and international talent comes here?
- Dracula Zombie USA Yankee Ingenuity + Feel It Robot
The best way to warm up as the cold sets in is to have a dance party. Whether SPACE's Halloween costume ball or the spontaneous Obama victory celebration in Monument Square, it seems the colder it gets, the more Portlanders want to shimmy.
- Testosterowned
Thirteen years is a long time in heavy metal, but as the eerie distended melody of Only Living Witness filled the Middle East downstairs on Saturday, time flickered and then collapsed.
- Mike Edison walks alone
On his death bed, Mike Edison probably won’t lament that he didn’t do this or he didn’t go there.
- MARK LEMHOUSE
Lemhouse transitions from solo blues-based songwriter to eclectic Americana explorer with his second album, sandwiching country, blues, bluegrass, and rock and roll into his intensely rhythmic electric/acoustic combo arrangements.
- G. Love
When in 1994 G. Love emerged as a rapping white-boy Boston transplant from Philadelphia’s old-school blues scene, the temptation was to write him off as a one-shot, “Cold Beverage” curio — a left-field indulgence of the alt-rock era. G Love, "Rhyme for the Summer Time" (mp3) G Love, "Blues Music" (mp3)
- The Format
This Arizona-based power-pop combo had a terrific alt-rock radio hit a few years ago called “The First Single,” a self-consciously exuberant mini-anthem that proved they had a sense of humor to go along with their sense of hook. "The Compromise," (MP3 via Myspace)
- Dancing fools
Here are a few dance tracks that you otherwise normal, dance-music-hating people should give a chance — in the ear, the club, the car, wherever, as long as it’s air-conditioned.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, More
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Alternative and Indie Rock, Built To Spill, Mark E. Smith, Ron Harrity, Honey Clouds, Trey Hughes, Mandy Wheeler, Less
