DEAR HUNTER & MARS VOLTA: Well-Beyond Emo

Pleasant surprise of the week (last week) goes to the debut album/"EP" by Dear Hunter, Act I: The Lake South, The River North. The disc is amazingly well put-together for an indie effort: progressive post-emo with multi-tracked vocals nearly worthy of Brian Wilson's music director, Jeffrey Foskett, plenty of imaginitive guitar lines and melodic & harmonic devices, and superb musicianship throughout. Dredg fans should be impressed, especially considering that this album is meant as a mere prelude to a forthcoming "full-length."

Other fans that should take note are Mars Volta fans. Coincidentally, that band's fine new album, Amputechture, (a vast improvement over the disappointingly faux-"complex" Frances the Mute, though also far short of the watershed, DeLoused in the Comatorium) came out right around the same time as Dear Hunter's. DH's emo roots are still far more apparent than MV's and their songs are far more restrained and far less complex than MV's often sprawling pieces. But this is only their first album and I see a certain ambition shining through, not dissimilar to the out-of-the-ordinary ambition that Cedric and Omar often let shine in their work with At the Drive In, that bodes well for the band's (mostly one guy's) creative future.

Interestingly, there's a song from each album that is very similar to each other: "Inquiry of Ms. Terri" for Dear Hunter and "Vermicide" for Mars Volta. They're both understated, downbeat songs with moody, desultory verses that cut strikingly into variations of a similarly effective chorus structure: Clarion Call--hit!--Clarion Call--hit!. Mars Volta then goes on to add a guitar solo while Dear Hunter adds a cathartic vocal section. It's such a simple device but it's employed very well by both bands. The thing to notice is how DH nails the exclamatory strikes on the expected downbeat on the first bar of the chorus and then inverts it on the second bar by nailing an unexpected off-beat. The effect plays around your expectations, hitting you with a right uppercut after having previously hit you with the left hook.

That kind of little twist is a cut above most in subtlety, intelligence and even physicality. That kind of little forethought makes the difference between the run-of-the-mill and those that potentially have something special. Make no mistake, DH has much that remains obviously in the emo tradition they come from. They're not rewriting the Book nor are they revolutionizing anything. But they are already bringing with them an imagination and idiosyncrasy that defies cliches and results in original music that rises well above its genre. Keep an eye on these guys.

CHECK OUT THE SIMILARITIES IN THE FOLLOWING TWO TRACKS:

Dear Hunter
"Inquiry of Ms. Terri"
Act 1: Lake South River North
Triple Crown Records (2006)

Mars Volta
"Vermicide"
Amputechture
Universal (2006)

Two more from the Dear Hunter disc:

Dear Hunter
"Battesimo Del Fuoco" --pretentious title, but here are the Brian Wilsonian vocal arrangement techniques I'm talking about.
Act 1: Lake South River North
Triple Crown Records (2006)

Dear Hunter
"City Escape" --perhaps the best track on the album. Energetic with the understated progressiveness that shows some of the promise the band has.
Act 1: Lake South River North
Triple Crown Records (2006)