 Distilled1
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Subject: Black sky Hoizon Reviews
Date: February 5, 2006 @ 10:22 AM
I have a theory about the recent wave of nostalgia for the music of the early 80s. I don’t believe that the reason everyone has been flocking to retro clubs is solely because they are dying to try out their old Flock of Seagulls hairdos. I think that somewhere early in this decade musicians forgot how to write good pop music. While Empire Day’s self released CD may not have the power to put some much needed blood back into techno pop it is a step in the right direction.
Empire Day does a lot of things right. They know that what drives techno pop is a simple, clean bass line. They understand that while thick layers of electronic sounds are the bread and butter of most electronic music today, nothing hooks in a listener like a catchy chord progression. The only thing that seems to hold back their songs is a chorus with a vocal line as addictive as their keyboards. The vocal style of singer Marvin Hinman blends perfectly with the music, bathed in reverb and as pained as the whining background guitars, but they never quite open up enough to make me want to jump up and sing along.
I can easily image Empire Day becoming a hit at Chicago dance clubs like Berlin, the old 950, and Exit where the crowd has to be burned out on dancing to the same Depeche Mode and Cure songs they have been hearing since they were in junior high. There is a simple reason that those kids still listen to songs from that era – they were good and few bands since have been able to capture that delicate balance of youthful angst and pop-rock optimism. Empire Day understands this balance. They can skate seamlessly between verses with lonely minor keys that wash over you with thick warm sounds and these bridges were they modulate to a major key for just a brief enough moment to bring this eerie hope to their songs. If people can’t help but compare their music to the underground hits of fifteen years ago I hope they take it as a compliment By Ellen Stenard Chicago Gigs.com
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