Man
or Astro-Man?, Black Heart Procession, Pleaseeasaur
Berbati's
Pan
231 SW Ankeny
St., 248-4579
10 pm Tuesday,
Sept. 12
$10 advance,
$13 door
As nightfall's chill and the morning wind telegraph autumn's
arrival, the time seems particularly right for the Black Heart
Procession. The San Diego band plays sparse, heart-wracked
music, a combination of folk laments, piano bar tear-jerkers,
cabaret torch tales and impenetrable misery usually produced
by solitary players at 3 in the morning. Melancholic and dramatic,
BHP's music inspires visions of rainswept carnival midways
at the crumbling end of summer, slick and empty cobblestoned
alleys.
That's at first. Then, after you listen to the band a little
more, the faintest trace of a silver lining cracks open
at the edge of the quartet's dark cloud. The suggestion
of a knowing smirk and an occasional flash of color creep
into the muted mix of pianos, bowed saws, guitars, antique
pump organs and straining voices. Could they be having fun,
despite themselves?
On the morning the band left for a six-week national tour,
which will include runs with both avant-surf oddniks Man
or Astro-Man? and major-label art rock darlings Modest Mouse,
BHP leader "Pall" Jenkins shed some light on the spark that
burns within his band's aura of gloom...
...on his band's elemental sorrow:
"I've always approached music in a way that's not necessarily
happy. But, in general, we're not super-depressed people.
We're not goths, we're not masochists. I spend more time
trying to be happy. It's good to be happy about things,
good to be glad for things in life. It's also good to be
able to realize that there are other sides to life, too."
...on the somber cloak that drapes their music darkly:
"There's some tongue-in-cheek aspects to the music that
people don't always pick up on. Hopefully people realize
that we're not on this total downer trip all the time. Sometimes
our shows will be very straight-faced, with no talking.
But put a few drinks in us and loosen us up, and suddenly
things are very different. Also, we dress up a little for
our shows, and there's a tongue-in-cheek aspect to that,
a subtle sarcasm. Maybe it's sarcasm that no one besides
us gets."
...on the cabaret sound that seems to haunt Black Heart
Procession like a restless spirit:
"Actually, cabaret music and older European music isn't
really a huge presence in our music-listening lives. A lot
of the songs may touch on that kind of music, and I can
see where people might think it's this major influence,
but to be honest, I'm not super-familiar with that music.
It's more that there's an idea of something I find interesting
in my head, and some of my writing reflects that."
...on the fickle Muse:
"As a practice, I don't really become consumed by any one
thing in particular, be it musicians, or filmmakers, or
whatever. I'm more inspired just by the idea of creating
something, of making something that's finished, whether
it's a song or a piece of art, or whatever. When I do something,
I certainly try to make it as good as I can, but the impetus
to do comes more from the urge just to do it. And
the inspiration for that, I think, is just life."
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