The Winter Sounds preview

The Winter Sounds
Ronny’s, Chicago
Friday, August 3, 2007

A common and valid criticism of The Winter Sounds’ Porcelain Empire (Livewire) is that the mix has the warmth of a toilet bowl (hence the title?). Opener “Windy City Nights” is probably the cleanest cut on the album, a double-timed shot drawn from Interpol’s bag of tricks. But soon the problems are apparent with a chorus that’s supposed to soar but finds itself caught in an aluminum compressor tube.

Empire, which is often a doppelganger for Stellastarr’s stylish Cure-meets-Pixiesisms, begs to be played live (or at least re-recorded). On “Gone To Save Mankind” you can clearly hear the xylophone, but it’s right on top of the mix and about as dry as toast. Keyboardist Gina Asalon probably took her master copy home and immediately began empathizing with ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newstead, who gets buried so often he might as well be credited as an air guitarist. There are moments (“Sounds Forged Like Spine,” “Oblivion”) when you think you’re hearing what you think you should, but doubts linger.

So, yes, “much better live” is the rock cliché of the ages, but in this case it’s not the band who need to be heard so much as their (potentially) thrilling epic, Porcelain Empire.

Nurses and Pyrenees in Plains open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to sample Porcelain Empire.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly