Skip to main content
[ROCK DEVELOPMENTS] At times overwrought in its effort to convey some heavy emotional states, Portland quartet Lubec turns in 11 tracks on a full-length debut that surveys life around the city. On The Thrall, the quartet's exuberance is conveyed primarily through vocal harmonies, which have been steadily developing since the band's initial recordings dating back to 2011. Lubec has been significantly cleaned up since then, so it's not all climaxing on this new disc. Instead, the band cycles through fey pop sections and work beholden to the K Records conception of pop. And again, each member of the band being more than capable of getting on the mic doesn't hurt. For "The Morning Beatdown," apart from writing some sly and smirking ode to encountering a shitty day, the band sings syrupy sweet about an otherwise sour subject. It's not all sidelong glances, though. "Local Celebrity" gets into seeing folks around town and finds Lubec coming off like an act that could have opened for the Deal sisters back in the 1990s. It's not that The Thrall is a throwback to that era, but it clearly finds footing in a similar landscape: the layered dual-guitar solo on "Local Celebrity" is a testament to that. Sticking around for as many years as Lubec has without reaping any huge reward hints that the purposeful tension is more than just a good musical idea. The Thrall is likely not a moment-defining release for Portland, but it is a willful and deliberate work of an ever-developing cadre of performers.
SEE IT: Lubec plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Old Wave and Night Mechanic, on Sunday, Sept. 21. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
WWeek 2015