July 31-August 6, 2003
musicpicks
The Collapse
  |
|
Rock/pop
Having known Cliff Hall as more of a strings-manning cellist (and, of course, a strings-pulling promoter with EFC/Clear Channel) it was a shock to hear the tremoring, triple guitars of The Collapse. First thing you notice about their eponymous debut (on Bethlehem's Infernal Racket Records) -- after the rumbling interplay of its lead six-string slipperiness in tandem with its gut-punched crunching rhythm guitars -- is that there's a complexity to the band's overall pulse. Each of Hall's subtle, hookish melodies and singer/lyricist Christian McKenna's snippy passionate phrases and cheering vocals are instilled with weight and depth. You'd have to fuck with a fretboard on a cello pretty furiously to give it the The Edge-like crackle heard on "Audible Sigh." Hard starters like "Emily V." and "Adventure Films, Part 2" and the simmering, shimmery ballad-not-ballad "Gracious Scape" have a heft beyond the power-punk-pop their tunes should hold -- think math rock's joy of phonics but without the headache of long division. I dig it.
Sat., Aug. 2, 9 p.m., $8, with The Figgs and Cordalene, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.
-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there
