Chin Up Chin Up
This Harness Can't Ride Anything (Suicide Squeeze)
By Sheba White
Published: October 23rd, 2006 | 12:56am
If the movie Pretty in Pink were made today, Chicago’s Chin Up Chin Up would replace Psychedelic Furs as the soundtrack band. A pining Jon Cryer and a dopey-eyed Andrew McCarthy notwithstanding, Pretty in Pink had a clap-ready, tear-jerking hometown feel to it that the band could only make better.
That’s because somewhere between Ringwald’s thick mascara and reconstructed prom dress is the Roxy Music-meets-the Fall heartbeat of This Harness Can’t Ride Anything, a tinkling, jerky, keyboard-heavy soundscape of frosted happiness tempered by vocal effects reminiscent of a throatier, hiccupping Isaac Brock in songs like “Water Planes in Snow” and “We’ve Got to Keep Running.” No surprise there, considering the 10-track album was produced by Modest Mouse’s producer Brian Deck, who brings ping-ponging guitar solos and layered vocal harmonies that unravel the breathy edge of Chin Up’s sound. That being said, there’s a vast difference between Modest Mouse’s tempered, ironic contentment and Chin Up’s hopelessly cheerful, shoulder-dancing vibe, particularly in numbers like the title track and “Trophies for Hire.”
Such open life-embracing gushing may be unexpected from the band whose first full-length was dourly titled We Should Have Never Lived Like Skyscrapers. It’s like Cryer’s character finding a candy machine in the lady’s bathroom. “What's this?,” he shrills. “We don't have a candy machine in the boys’ room!” This Harness is the candy machine in the boys’ room — its unapologetically and surprisingly happy. Whether in movies, or music, or life, this is harder to pull off than anyone suspects.
Issue #25
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more