One Track Mind

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It’s hard to say where indie rock quartet Aloha come from (they started out twelve years ago in Bowling Green, Ohio but have called at least seven different towns home since then) or even what sub-genre they inhabit (although the terms “experimental” and “prog” seem to get bandied about most frequently), but one thing about the band is isn’t up for debate: they make some damned good music together. Depending on how you keep score–another item subject to discussion–the band has released four or five albums and a slew of singles and compilation tracks, but their breakthrough came with 2004′s Here Comes Everyone. That was the first record to feature new member T.J. Lipple, who helped bring the group’s sound to its present, more robust state.

On March 9th, Aloha will release their latest full-length, Home Acres, on Champaign, Illinois’ Polyvinyl Records. “Moonless March,” the record’s second track, certainly taps into a proggy sensibility but is far more inventive than such a perfunctory label would suggest. The layers here are numerous and textured, evoking Trans Am and Tortoise on the one hand and Built to Spill on the other. Cale Parks’ virtuosic drumming is feverish and tight throughout, maintaining a high-ratcheted intensity. (His drum work doesn’t have teeth–it has a hungry pair of sharp canines.) Tony Cavallario’s vocals and all of the instruments share equal billing on “Moonless March,” whose production is egalitarian and satisfyingly noisy. With this song, Aloha have written a piece which feels filled to the brim–the sound is so thick one feels it lacks the oxygen for another track on the mixing board–but not overburdened, a skillful mix of melody and mayhem.