The Valiant Arms. Blue Skies and A Clean Getaway

[August 20th, 2008]

[PORTLAND ROCK] For someone who has been so intimately involved in the Northwest music scene for so long (working with artists like Elliott Smith, Rally Boy, M. Ward, the Decemberists and more in his capacity as head of Jealous Butcher Records), it’s no wonder that Rob Jones’ latest musical endeavor, the Valiant Arms, has an old-Portland sound to it. One can find traces of legendary Portland outfits like Hazel and the Crabs in the Arms’ (whose first release was, unsurprisingly, a Crabs tribute) new disc, Blue Skies and a Clean Getaway—from the punk-paced snare hits to the rumbling, pumped-up low end and cleanly enunciated vocals.

The band’s stories are sung by guitarist Jones and bassist Diane Rios. Where Jones is a rehearsed, somewhat warbling speak-singer, Rios’ voice is instinctual: a livelier version of Low’s Mimi Parker. Despite the fact that the Valiant Arms is a two-headed beast, the sound is pretty consistent. Jones’ bright, distorted guitar plays licks equally inspired by Northwest basements and New Wave super-hits, Rios’ loosely strung bass allows listeners to hear each low reverberation and Eric Jensen’s drumming (restrained and on time, impatiently awaiting opportunities to explode) remain constant between the Arms’ ballads and blast-offs.

The Valiant Arms certainly ascribes to an old model—most of its rocking moments (“Second Chances,” “The Archivist”) are controlled demolitions, building spires with reverb, clean bass and mathy turnarounds only to knock them down with doubletime drums and amplifier squeals. The Valiant Arms’ raw power explosions (“The Flowers of Danang,” a loose, fast cover of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”) suggest influences older than the aforementioned Portland greats. So is there still a place for these old souls in the brave new Portland, where beats ’n’ twee rule the basements?

There’s actually a lot the fractured Stumptown music scene—which sometimes seems rudderless despite all its talent—could learn from a band like the Valiant Arms. Not to suggest that ’90s Portland is some Atlantis, but when a musically informed group like the Valiant Arms digs up lost treasure from Portland’s past, one can’t help but want to dig in even deeper.