By: Bob Longmore
Champaign, Illinois natives Headlights washed the Turf Club in a swirl of feedback and ambient noise, built to a crescendo, and then stopped suddenly as a piano began to play. The band played their indie rock songs with enthusiasm, sucking the audience in with their hooks and overall stage presence. At times, the foursome evoked traits of Broken Social Scene with their giant sing along crescendos. It was easy to see why this band is beginning to create a buzz, as Erin Fein leaned over her keyboards, closed her eyes and intensely delivered lines like:
I am looking, looking for something
Cant quite put my mind at ease
Cause I need to see, see an opening
Take my arms in and breathe
Fein traded vocals with guitarist Tristain Wright, but all of Headlights' songs contained the same pitch-perfect lush sound that I am a sucker for.
The guys in Story of the Sea just look like they belong in a band. With former members of Houston, Manplanet and Align, they are no strangers to the stage. Any description of Story of the Sea has to start with drummer, Ian Prince. He is an absolute monster behind his kit. His large frame seems to dwarf the drums and the sticks look like twigs in his hands. Combined with bassist John McEwen, the rhythm section is the force in this band.
For the first couple of songs, the bass was incredibly high in the mix, which drowned out singer and guitarist Adam Prince. By the third song, the sonic asymmetry had been evened out, and Adam Prince’s subtle guitar work was allowed to breathe. While McEwen and Ian Prince chugged along, Adam painted colorful patterns above the low end. At times he accentuating the rhythm, and others he cut across the grain with his melodies, adding the depth of sound that three piece bands sometime lack.
As I looked around the Turf Club, I noticed that people were nodding their heads in unison to the dreamy pop punk. Story of the Sea like to veer off into interesting breakdowns; instead of ordinary eight-bar bridges they travel in long cuts and diversions to unexpected musical territories.
Adam Prince’s vocals fit the mood of the band perfectly. He sometimes sang with the cynicism that Thom Yorke possesses, especially during “Karma,” where he spread his sneer over the lines:
Can’t you read that I totally read you
Not like billboards that are written in brail
Can’t you read that I totally read you
This is one test I pray that you fail
Toward the end of their set, in the middle of one of their songs, Ian Prince seemed to come barreling out of nowhere. Kicking it up to double time, his drums were shaking the tables and glasses and when the song stopped and the crowd was yelling for an encore, Adam Prince jokingly said, “What do you want from us? He broke his fucking cymbal!”
They did play one more song. Something Adam Prince called, “The Beast with Two Bats.” Though I doubt it, I think it could be metaphor for Adam’s brother Ian hovering over the drums, beating them with his wooden bats.
Photo by Bob Longmore.
Location Info:
The Turf Club
Artist Info: Story of the Sea
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