No, you won't have heard of them yet, either, but mark my words: you will very soon indeed. Let's not piss about here: THE BELLES are two blokes with a languid, melancholy fixation from nowheresville...well, OK, Lawrence, Kansas... who write words as intense as Mark Kozelek and ally them to tunes Evan Dando would approve of in his new, experienced incarnation.
"(Who Will Be) Here To Hear?" is one of those great, coming-seemingly-from-nowhere debuts that immediately catches your attention and just feels dead right. THE BELLES are basically singer/ songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist Christopher Tolle and drummer Jake Cardwell, though they have some help from a few sympathetic friends in places. That they have the confidence to lay these four affecting songs down on cheap multitracks at home and at the immortally-named Horny Gordon's in Lawrence shows they are instilled with either extreme confidence or extreme shyness, but it's the perfect move as the downhome atmosphere allows these intimate songs the air they need without too much embellishment.
And these are cool songs, but while they're delivered with a languid, unhurried patience, don't mistake them as slight, as these four songs are special indeed. The title track leads off, with gentle slide guitar caressing he melody and Tolle breathing: "I'm pretty sure you'd kill me if you had half the chance", which is one of the more memorable intro lines of recent times. He's soon delving deeper too, with: "Salvation is a curious topic, love is hard to explain...maybe we're all erased from memory" Whoa! Young man, take it easy now.
|
Track two revels in the Kozelekian title "These Things Will Kill Me" and is taken at a nigh-on stillborn pace, but it's still oddly glorious, with guest Ehren Starks' deep Wurlitzer piano shadowing the guitar chords and Cardwell striking a tambourine with funereal dignity. The langourous harmonies are just right, though, and they pull it off with aplomb to spare.
Third track, "Victory Parade" is barely any faster, but equally affecting, with string synth propping up the vulnerability and Tolle singing in a broken whisper not that dissimilar to either early Elliott Smith or Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500 days, while - by these boys' standards - closing tune "Left Arm Tan" is taken a fair clip, with Tolle singing "I want to stick my arm out the window and drive" over Scott Brickland's saintly organ and his own determined strumming. Hell, in this company it's almost anthemic.
Understated, delicious and deeply emotional, THE BELLES are really quite a find. They confront fears and frailties, but sing about them through warm melodies that swing by like a late summer breeze. Heartbreak has rarely sounded so attractive a long-term proposition.
|
