From Suckotash (CityPaper online):
In comparison, the Chance is a lot more straightforward, playing common time guitarbassdrums- (and occasionally guitarguitardrums; more on that later) based rock that explores the familiar themes of alienation, loss, desperation, and death. Oh, and vampires, although I think that's prolly a metaphor. Kinda.
The songs are built around the formidable vocal talents of Joshua Padgett, who possesses a dark, rich contra tenor from which he coaxes sounds that echo many influences, but none so clearly as Peter Murphy and Ian Curtis. He has a better voice than Curtis and doesn't have half the range of Murphy, but his phrasing and melodies fall somewhere between the two of them, which, of course, isn't a half-bad place to be. Balancing out Padgett's tension and monotone is guitarist Pierre Davis' voice, which more often than not ends up bringing the hook that makes you wish the song wouldn't end. And when they sing together, the harmonies can be positively haunting.
But all that aside, the one thing that's undeniable about the Chance, and that was a major source of their appeal for me on Monday night, was their monster drummer, Viraj DeSilva, who unleashes rudiments and macho percussion firepower that fall just short of the whole Bonham/Grohl axis. Unlike a lot of drummers who do that kinda thing, though, his sense of rhythm and ability to keep time doesn't suffer as he ups the ante. Their songs are of two basic flavors??taut and rhythmic or cinematic, sprawling guitar opuses filled with delayed drone lines and rapidly strummed countermelodies. But live the emotional peaks and valleys of all of their songs were provided as much by DeSilva's drumming as by any other single element.
The band doesn't put on much of a "show," per se, but it clearly takes pride in its songs and brings a level of passion to the simple melodic interplay between guitars and voice that's really quite thrilling to see. So while you won't see anyone strangling themselves with a mic cord or throwing a guitar into the bass drum at one of their shows, you will see beautiful music performed with conviction, and surely that's still worth something, right? About the only downside to all of this is the hole that's left when Padgett drops his bass and switches over to second guitar. As much as I like bands that fuck with the trad rock formula in their lineups, and as much as I like the big two-guitar crescendos, this band needs a bass player; the loss was palpable. Adding someone into the mix might not be such a bad idea.
The band closed its set with "Never Let You Go," a song that I think captures its aesthetic as much as any other single song, both in the music??with it's Bauhaus-inspired vocal melody, twisting guitar line, stiffly strummed bass, and roiling drums??and even more so in its detailed recounting of the singer's disinterment of his lover's body. "It's been 15 months since you've been killed, but I can still feel your undying love," he sings, and I'm sure you can figure out what's gonna be staring him in the face after his shovel hits the casket. Yep, as one might expect, "there are maggots fucking inside your eyes." Ah, poetry. The Chance also has a pretty great self-titled CD that, while a bit tamer than their live show, is definitely worth getting.
From Left off the Dial:
The novelist Walker Percy was apt to claim that human beings were never as at home as they were when they dealt with tragedy and chaos. He argued that we have a perverse longing for the horrible; it??s what makes us feel truly human and alive. For Percy, humans are aliens in the world anyways??our souls ripped asunder by the dualism between body and mind. When tragedy strikes, we are dragged down from that unbearable lightness of our mental selves and nailed concretely into history. This nail, however, has a cruel price that few of us would voluntarily seek out.
The Chance, a three piece out of Arlington, Virginia, creates music that has the effect of recreating this situation. What starts out seeming like math-rockish punk in the vein of Fugazi quickly transforms into a sublime mixture of moods and emotions. Two different singers vie for controls on their songs with Joshua Padgett sounding like a more mature and more pissed of Ian Curtis and Pierre Davis exuding a relaxed, more subdued melancholy. While most of their songs are very energetic, The Chance bears the unmistakable mark of Joy Division and Bauhaus. Don??t get me wrong ?? this is not the bullshit Interpol-esque Joy Division, a creation of recent music critics; rather it is the raw, elemental Joy Division of their early EPs and singles.
The problem with this comparison, aside from being unoriginal, is that it doesn??t really get to the heart of their sound. Sure, there is the Sturm und Drang of the early Joy Division, but there is also an extremely proficient technical backbone in the rhythm section and more complex and interesting melodies floating above the fray than you find in Joy Division or in most bands for that matter. Their songs are complex without being boring and intense, yet they are also thoughtful and intricate. There is none of the Byzantine silliness that is so often found in the records of ??punk? bands that try to make more serious thoughtful music. Every note, every rhythm has a point, a reason for existing.
There is nothing more exciting than putting this record in for the first time and hearing the staccato bass lines that force the first song into action. As the album progresses, the themes that are developed early on are expanded and then amplified. When the album has finished, only a person who had no interest in music whatsoever would refrain from starting it over again. This is, without a doubt, one of the best and most interesting records of the year, and there is nothing more to say about it than that.
-John Thrasher
11/8/04
