Local Capsule Reviews: White Denim, The Distant Seconds
It’s interesting that White Denim, a band that’s already joined the vanguard of recent Austin attention-grabbers (Shearwater, Harlem, Black Joe Lewis, et al.), has yet to see a physical release of their music supported with even a modicum of distribution in their home state. That’s set to change on October 20th, when Downtown Music will finally release Fits, the band’s second (third if you count their UK debut Workout Holiday) and most adventurous LP domestically. Actually, adventurous is an understatement: it’s head-spinning how much they pack into Fits' economical 37 minutes. The record is a short but dense blast of moody, psychedelic soul that careens from hard-edged funk and breezy soul to straight up psych rock with flourishes of jazz and dub, and manages it all without feeling directionless or schizophrenic. The trio is incredibly tight, and the song structures and time changes are so fascinating that you have to occasionally stop and ask yourself, how the hell are they doing this? However they conjured it up, Fits is an excellent, occasionally face-melting rock album that deserves to be played loudly and often by many more people than are currently familiar with it.
Spectral Evidence, the first album from The Distant Seconds, begins well enough. “Disembalmed” is a gorgeous and all-too-brief mood piece that floats on a nervous undercurrent of buzzing guitars; however, the bulk of the record that follows proves to be a pleasant but ephemeral listening experience. The band’s sound has been compared to Spoon repeatedly in reviews, and Austin’s most famous utensils do in fact cast a long shadow over the record - uncomfortably so during certain passages in which Distant Seconds liberally crib a few of Spoon’s trademark moves. That said, Spectral Evidence does demonstrate some promise outside of the minute-long preamble, despite the fact that the band has a tough time distinguishing themselves from their influences. A handful of tracks, especially “Build Your Own Los Angeles,” prove that the quartet has enough tricks up its sleeve to produce something more satisfying. According to their MySpace, two new recordings will see the light of day before the year is out. Here’s hoping that they’ll continue to explore and experiment to create something that makes good on that promise.
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