Double play

The Lune's split personality

by Brett Milano

There's nothing remotely unique about a rock band who play both electric and acoustic sets; but it's not often you find a band whose personality, repertoire, and line-up are substantially different in each configuration. One such band are the Lune, an eclectic and primarily instrumental trio. See the electric version and you'd file them under indie rock, with a sparse and tense guitar-driven sound. See the acoustic Lune and they come across as an old-timy, good-timy outfit with tie-dyed overtones -- you half-expect to see R. Crumb sitting in the audience.

Until recently I'd managed to hear only the acoustic Lune, which is why I'd filed them under "probably good if you're in the right mood" -- my tolerance for trumpet and accordion being at a low point when I caught them doing a soundtrack-like set at Charlie's Tap recently. It's also why I wasn't expecting the stripped-down guitar thrills on the Lune's electric debut CD, Sill (on the New Hampshire label Aesthetics). It still sounds like a soundtrack, but this film would have been directed by Jim Jarmusch and shot in grainy black-and-white. The skeletal grooves substitute chunky rhythm chords for a real lead guitar, creating a sinister late-night feel. Only one of the four vocal tunes ("No, No," an apparent Pete Townshend homage) puts the voice up front; the vocals are otherwise as unassuming as everything else. And it's the understatement that makes the music work. The guitar sound is clean and sharp, there are empty spaces in the arrangements, the songs are enticingly short. The closing "In Me" borrows the opening riff and surf-guitar sound from Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge," working it for tension without any increase of speed or volume.

No surprise that the Lune's three core members had already played in straight-ahead rock bands and were looking to do something different when they formed back in 1991. Bassist Jeff Goddard was in Moving Targets; singer/guitarist Brad White hailed from the Minneapolis band Roadstood; transplanted drummer Mark Romano was in a few obscure Florida outfits. No surprise either that their songwriting is geared more to rhythm and mood than to words or melodies. "I wouldn't say that vocals are a top priority for us," notes Romano. "You wouldn't think of them so much the way our music is written. Our acoustic stuff is more song-oriented; the electric things have more emphasis on rhythm than anything else. We experiment with different time signatures and tempo changes. It comes out pretty quirky, though we don't intend it that way."

If the Lune's approach keeps them in the margins of local music, Romano has no regrets. "We're definitely not that accessible as far as pop music goes; we're pretty quirky and I don't think a lot of people get it. We have our pockets of fans, and we've had some shows where things haven't been so great. This is a tough town when you're doing something a little different, and we've stuck together because we like what we're doing."

In acoustic mode the band members switch instruments -- Goddard plays trumpet, Romano accordion -- and additional players are brought in for steel guitar, upright bass, violin, and percussion. And the band's personality changes as well. The film-noir ambiance goes out and a sense of humor comes in. Thus an acoustic album, recorded at the same sessions as the electric EP, is due for separate release next year. Having given a preview listen to the acoustic disc, I'd never have guessed that the two records were by the same band. The acoustic disc has a countryish slant, thanks to the heavy use of accordion, harmonica, and steel, with guitar pushed into the background. A handful of other influences -- Cajun, pizzeria mandolins, and '20s swing -- are in there as well; during the best moments it sounds as if a parade were happening and people were crashing into one another. I still prefer the electric disc, but the acoustic one has enough quirk appeal to see it through.

The best moments point toward what the Lune need to do next: unite their split personality, keeping the snap of the electric material and the warmth of the acoustic. Meanwhile, listeners can choose which they like best when the band play an electric and an acoustic set at the Middle East tonight (Thursday).

NEW ALBUMS

Time to clean out the drawers and tend to some local albums that have escaped these pages in recent months, starting with Kenny Chambers's Sin Cigarros (Taang!). Former Moving Targets leader Chambers's status as one of the more overlooked figures in local rock gets more secure by the year, especially now that his label has moved to San Diego. Whether solo or with the Targets, Chambers has always specialized in hook-driven, melodic punk, but this all-instrumental disc is a real departure, nailing down his guitar-hero credentials once and for all. Some of the tracks are close to the hard-rocking instrumentals that turned up on Targets albums; others are miles away, showing a surprisingly gentle touch. "Dongato" finds Chambers duetting with himself on acoustics while a synthesizer chimes in the background; this segues into the jangly and countryish "Waterfall," which could pass for an early R.E.M. backing track. Tributes are also paid to Pink Floyd ("Spiral Staircase" has a plodding majesty recalling "Us and Them") and to the lighter side of Led Zep ("Dread Fool" has a very Page-ian, Eastern-sounding riff). Usually it would be the ultimate knock to say that a punk-related album is relaxing, but much of the music on Sin Cigarros is a steady, non-syrupy uplift.

On Lint's The Little Dancing Ballerina Has Given Up (Plumb), the music once again risks getting overshadowed by the brilliance of the packaging. Lint's debut album, Cold Scene, was the first CD that could be played on a turntable -- thanks to their gluing a flexidisc (of a 45-second song!) onto the face of the CD and sticking a spindle-sized washer in the hole. For the follow-up, they've pulled the same trick in reverse. The CD is packaged in a 12-inch sleeve, attached to the center of an unlabeled vinyl album. (You can play this if you punch out the center hole, though you may not want to. My copy featured a spectacularly ungifted woman with a Texas accent singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.") Like all their releases, it sports a stolen label design and logo, though you'd have to be a major record geek to recognize it; in this case, you'd also have to own a couple of ELO albums.

Oh yeah, the music: noise rock with a human touch. Lint's core instrumental trio has a revolving cast of female singers (Mona Elliott, Thuraya Cable, Kate and Meaghan McLaughlin) rotating personalities between songs -- at times recalling the guitars 'n' screams sound of Elliott's former band Spore, at times introducing a more melodic side with more-confessional-type lyrics. The 13-song disc plays like a loosely drawn concept album, with the songs working as dialogues between characters, matching the band's noisy/cynical side against their warmer/poppier one. The production is generally fuller and the sound more ambitious than on the debut, with thicker arrangements and more creative use of the studio. In further screwing with the CD format, Lint stick a secret track before the album proper.

Given the name Feces Pieces and some of the song titles ("Shit Head," "Strong Gag Reflex"), I'm assuming this band won't mind if I say that Feces Pieces is full of shit -- and that's less a value judgment than a description. For one thing, I'd swear that singer Tom Piotrowski is singing through his butt; the sound is too deep and tight-squeezed to come from anywhere else. Neither would I be surprised to learn that the CD was recorded in the bathroom, considering how the guitar sound sludges over everything. The band otherwise hark back to the days when Black Flag first discovered Black Sabbath and realized that slow guitar riffs could be more monolithic than fast ones. The main difference is that Piotrowski (or whoever writes the lyrics) makes the Henry Rollins of those days sound positively well-adjusted. At least Rollins had enough self-regard to blame his psychic turmoil on everybody else. Not so with Piotrowski, whose self-loathing and general bad attitude is believable precisely because it's so overstated. "Call me a shithead for denying your code, call me a shithead for flushing your load. Feed me your lies, I'm gonna rise, shithead is my battle cry" (Merry Christmas to you too, guys!). Everybody who's ever fronted a punk band has claimed to be a screwed-up outcast; few have done it quite this convincingly.

NEW SIGNINGS

Ethereal pop band Splashdown, currently recording for Castle von Buhler (whose co-owner, Adam Buhler, is the guitarist), have signed a development deal with Capitol -- home of two bands to whom Splashdown are often compared, Mazzy Star and the Cocteau Twins. Before recording for the label they'll release a new indie EP, Halfworld, in January.

Meanwhile Guster have signed to Sire -- for, it's reported, the most money paid to a Boston band in years. We have seen the future of local rock, and it's cutesy-poo.

COMING UP

Skeggie Kendall invites a bunch of his musical friends for a Christmas bash in the Middle East bakery tonight (Thursday); some famous folks will undoubtedly turn up. Half Cocked and Downchild are at Mama Kin tonight, Stu Kimball and Charlie Chesterman do the country-rock thing at Bill's Bar, and the Cretins and Crazy Alice are at T.T. the Bear's Place . . . Gravel Pit headlines T.T.'s tomorrow (Friday) night, with the Sterlings and Slobberbone; Barrence Whitfield with his new back-up band the Movers is at Johnny D's, Providence bluesman and former Fabulous Thunderbird Kid Bangham is at the House of Blues, Fuzzy and Buttercup play a fine double bill at the Lizard Lounge, and Unnatural Axe return to save Hitler's brain at the Middle East, with Sexpod and the Peer Group . . . Orbit, Double Dong, and American Measles play the Middle East Saturday, Dennis Brennan and Deb Pasternak are at the Lizard, the El Caminos and Silverstar are at Bill's Bar, and the Gigolo Aunts play T.T.'s with original guitarist Phil Hurley as opening act, making an on-stage reunion more than likely. Eve's Plum and PermaFrost will also be there . . . Lynne Kellman a/k/a Another Girl continues her Monday residency at the Kendall. And in one of our favorite holiday traditions, Jumbo butcher The Nutcracker for your dining pleasure at Charlie's Tap.