764-HERO
Get Here And Stay
[Up]
Rating: 7.8
"Hello?"
"Hello, is John Atkins there?"
"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong..."
"How about Polly Johnson? Is she there?"
"What number are you trying to reach?"
"764-4376."
"Well, this is that number, but there's no one by that... oh wait. You
wouldn't happen to be a music critic, would you?"
"Uh... yeah. How'd you guess?"
"And you're reviewing Get Here And Stay, right? You've been
having trouble writing the review, so you resorted to the cheap gimmick
of actually dialing 764-HERO to see who you'd get?"
"Er..."
"Geez, you music critics are an unoriginal bunch. I've gotten twenty calls
just this week from you guys, expecting me to write your reviews for you.
And I'm not even the real 764-HERO; if you'd done your homework properly,
you'd know that 764-HERO got their name from the hotline to report carpool
lane violators in Washington state."
"[sigh] All right, all right, I'm sorry about bothering you. I guess I'll
just..."
"Oh, no need to apologize, I'm used to it by now. I've even got this whole
spiel about Get Here And Stay prepared, if you'd care to hear it."
"Well, I'd appreciate it greatly if you could..."
"Yeah, no problem. Here goes: So Get Here And Stay boasts a much
different sound from 764-HERO's previous stuff, if you hadn't noticed.
Before, they were a guitar- and- drums duo with this really raw, jagged
sound; on Get Here And Stay they've become a trio with the addition
of James Bertram, who used to play bass in Lync and Red Stars Theory. As a
result, their sound is a lot lusher and more full-- somewhere between
Lync's ramshackle indie rock and Built To Spill's glimmering psychedelic
pop."
"Whoa, slow down a sec, I need to write all this down... okay, keep
going."
"764-HERO has also mellowed out a lot more emotionally. Before they were
doing the old bipolar balancing act between blistery anger and
unfathomable despair; now, they sound a lot more weary. You can hear it in
John Atkins' voice; he sings like he's been hurting all his life, and now
he's just sick and tired of being so sick and tired all the time. Most of
the songs on Get Here And Stay are at once dreamy and propulsive,
great driving music if you think Modest Mouse is a bit too heavy. But the
best tracks are the quieter moments, like 'Calendar Pages' and
'Coastline,' because they've got the achy ballad thing down pat."
"So... do you like it, then?"
"Yeah, it's pretty good. I'd recommend it to people who dig any of the
other bummed- out music coming out of the post- grunge Northwest, like
Elliott Smith or Silkworm. Granted, 764-HERO isn't all that distinctive
compared to those guys, but they're decent."
"Okay, thanks a lot. This is some great stuff!"
"You're welcome, but could you do me a favor? Don't, like, quote me
verbatim. Change a few things around and add some of your own stuff,
because frankly, every other music critic in the state has heard the same
thing from me. And nothing sucks more than a bunch of different reviews of
an album that all say the same thing."
"No problem."
-Nick Mirov
"Calendar Pages"
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