PWRHAUS, PWRHAUS (Self-Released)

By Cris Lankenau

[DREAM SOUL] The PWRHAUS backstory begins with 2011's anonymous vanity project To My Long Lost Love exploding into (minor) overnight popularity after Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes included the LP in a list of his favorite albums from that year, crediting it to "an unknown Portland musician." Since being ID'd and forced into the limelight, frontman Tonality Star—in voice and presence, a kind of a cross between Karen Carpenter, Stephin Merritt and Genesis P-Orridge—has added a backing band to churn out the misty, reverb-drenched soul balladry that pulled him out of obscurity. Like Merritt, Star's single-minded topical choices could easily wear thin after even one LP, but the sincerity that shines through the fog keeps it from getting stale. On this new self-titled EP, Star's soft and gorgeously vulnerable voice still sits comfortably in an intentionally clouded cushion of swirly echo and simplistic melody, set to a pace that makes Beach House seem like Donna Summer. This offering particularly recalls the downtempo aesthetic of schmaltzy '70s-'80s piano men Ambrosia, or a "When Doves Cry" 45 played at 33 rpm. In all, the addition of an eight-piece band will fortify the melancholy fans have come to love, but the enigmatic frontman is still the…well, star.

SEE IT: PWRHAUS plays Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., with Cat Hoch, BRUMES and Radiation City DJs, on Wednesday, May 18. 8:30 pm. $6. 21+.

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