The Hard Lessons

Arms Forest (Quack! Media)

By Selena Fragassi
Published: June 26th, 2009 | 7:00am

Detroit’s the Hard Lessons have gone through some major changes since the release of 2008’s B&G Sides (Quack! Media). The bad: the departure of former drummer Christophe Zajac-Denek, whose bulldozing beats earned him the nickname "The Anvil." The good: the union of vocalist-guitarist Augie Visocchi and vocalist-keyboardist Korin Louise Visocchi. That is, unless, you consider the effect their wedded bliss has had on the sound of latest album, Arms Forest.

While many tracks still pack the powerful one-two punch of Augie’s hyperbolic guitar rhythms and Korin’s impassioned bluesy vocals (heard best on the title track, “Sound the Silent Alarm,” and “Tired Straights [Nothing But Time]”), much of the album gets defeated by the unlikely softness around the band’s edge on “See You Again,” “Wedding Ring,” “Made To Last,” and “St. Christopher,” whose titles alone illustrate how much the duo is still caught in the paradise of Newlywed Land. The Hard Lessons have always successfully mediated the opposing sides of pop and rock with a harmonious blend that picks up the best of each genre; however, in letting their life imitate their art, the band unbalances the chemistry by tipping the scales too far over to one side, and not the good side.

Although some things have changed, others still thankfully remain the same, notably the Hard Lessons' commitment to musical variety and risk-taking, which gives the album two sparkling diamonds in the rough. The first is “Manoogian Zoo,” a relaxed intro with a haunting echo that leads you on a sweet trail into the unknown of the Arms Forest. The other is “Roma Termini,” a throwback to Italo-disco that welcomes the band to the digital age in a danceable track that Korin says was inspired by the duo’s Mediterranean honeymoon.

One thing that can be said about the couple’s new status: we can be assured the band won’t be breaking up anytime soon. Let’s just hope on the next record, they make a vow to rock it out.

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