Made up of the easily recognizable talents of music industry luminaries
Matt Sweeney
,
Stephen Malkmus
Jim White
, and
Emmett Kelly
the Hard Quartet
have no illusions about becoming more than the sum of their parts. Instead, the group combine the lackadaisical charm that
Malkmus
has been synonymous with for decades in
Pavement
the Jicks
, and other projects;
Sweeney
's tasteful guitar virtuosity;
Kelly
's warped take on traditional folk structures; and
White
's ramshackle kit-rocking and simply add substantially more guitars to the mix. While not exactly a Frankenstien'ed-together version of the individual players' established voices, it's hard not to hear traces of
Wowee Zowee
's blend of sophomoric weirdness and deep melancholy in the songs
sings lead on, or
's background of technical guitar excellence and songwriting subtlety on tracks like the
Richard Thompson
-indebted "Rio's Song" or the moody epic "North of the Border." The structure-averse abandon that
brings to his most earthless sessions as a studio drummer is a highlight on both the ragged rockers ("Earth Hater" which sounds like
amped up after a metal concert) and the straightforward journeyman folk numbers (the lovely "Killed by Death," the eerie, banjo-led "Jacked Existence"). What keeps
interesting is the additional spice the group adds to their sound.
' voice is so unique that when he applies it to midtempo indie rock bummers like "Hey" and "Six Deaf Rats," it's difficult not to associate it with moments from his deep and celebrated back catalog. Even these songs have layers of thoughtfully dialed-in guitar tones and moments of ambience that
never attempted. Likewise,
's flickering songwriting style is recognizable from his work with
the Cairo Gang
but goes to looser, more adventurous places with input from these particular collaborators.
The Hard Quartet
reject no idea on their debut, and the results are usually familiar, strange, and fun, and at its strongest, the album reframes the individualized sounds of all four powerhouses as something new. ~ Fred Thomas