Show Review: Black Heart Procession

*This post comes from contributor Matt Smith.* Standing at the bar last Monday, about halfway through Black Heart Procession's set at The Parish, we chanced to overhear the following: "Man, these guys are a downer. You wanna jet?" Given that the statement was uttered between two rather frattish types, our first instinct was to scoff, "No shit! This is Black Heart Procession, you clueless plebeians!" Then, it suddenly occurred to us that this show was a downer. We've never desired to be the yes-men surrounding a naked Emperor, and forcing ourselves to take an objective view of a performance by a band we'd otherwise fiercely defend was difficult. Unfortunately, we were forced to agree with our polo-shirted comrades.

BHP played a lot of great songs off of fantastic albums to which we've really become attached, like Amore Del Tropico, and their most recent album, The Spell. Once they climbed up on stage, though, the same songs were reproduced virtually note-for-note and sans any interesting additions, physical or sonic. The subtle rift between recording and live set was completely blurred, and with no detectable urgency on the part of the band to re-communicate these songs in a special way, we lost interest. The Parish's sound mix was great as always, and each band member played with a professional consistency we've come to expect (albeit without much discernable passion), with the crowd focused intently on the band. Or should we say, they started out intent, but began to wander a little bit as the night dragged on. We guess we weren't the only ones a little let down by BHP. Don't let this keep you from picking up their new album though...disappointing live set or not, The Spell is required listening.

On a much lighter note, opening band The Devics more than made up for BHP's failure to engage the subject matter. Vocalist Sara Lov was a siren (the good kind) at the mic, and even with a recently injured hand, guitarist Dustin O'Halloran's licks shimmered along with the rest of the band. Based on the size of the crowd, Austin has yet to fully appreciate the down-tempo dreaminess of the L.A. natives, but we thank our lucky Lone Stars that we ran into them while they were here, rescuing the show.