The Horrors
Skying
When I first heard “Still Life” by The Horrors, it won my vote for song of year. Generating childhood feelings with the looping bass lines and bright synths, I was wrapped up in its pretty sound, innocent emotion, and hopeful lyrics. Words of promise like, “Don’t Hurry, give it time / Things are the way they have to be / Slow down, give it time / Still life, you know I’m listening / The moment that you want is coming if you give it time,” was advice from the horse’s mouth, but not what I thought I’d hear from The Horrors I know. At first Skying came out to my slightly disappointed expectations. I didn’t know if I could love the record as much as I wanted to because the gut-wrenching tone of “Still Life” was missing overall, but it grew on me fast once I actually gave it time. Gone with the resonance of post-punk from 2009’s Primary Colors, the record shifts towards a simpler sound – taking cues from the dark side of Tears for Fears, the pop sensibility of Simple Minds, and the vocal delivery of Richard Butler from The Psychedelic Furs. The culmination of 80’s inspired sound had me thinking that they stepped out from the smoke-filled doors of an electrical sparking DeLorean with Skying on cassette tape. The Horrors are known to change their personas, so why not deliver us with their new side of the old atmospheric, washy synths and pop hooks we grew up on?
At The Studio at Webster Hall, the last we’ve seen of the Tim Burton-esque characters Rotter, Von Grimm, Spider Webb, Coffin Joe & Furse were replaced by a carelessly-cool fashioned group, fit for a scene in The Breakfast Club. The Horrors ripped through a set perfectly split between Skying and Primary Colors with their signature styles. Rhys Webb on bass, decked out in a floral flowing shirt, twirled around in his own world, drugged-out-hippie style. Tom Cowan calculated his synths to Joseph Spurgeon, hidden behind the drums that filled up the tiny room. Faris Badwin, staring into the back of the crowd and swaying into his mic like Julian Casablancas, shared smiles with Joshua Hayward, resembling a member of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, on guitar. Not a single cut was played from Strange House and although I love that album, being witness to noisy tracks like “Sea Within a Sea” didn’t really leave me missing the record. From the ground up, to everything the new material on Skying has to offer – like “Monica Gems” with its screeching noise, forward guitar licks, and schizophrenic vocals left lingering in your head – the band is authentic to any soundscape they feel to create, or recreate.