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Tiny Hawks, "Fingers Become Bridges"
Harvesting all the energy of the punk world through some of the louder and more distorted acts of yesterday, this duorips up their instruments and vocal chords over the course of eightbrief tracks, proving that the guitar hasn't completely lost its edgeor destructive ability.
Welcome to approximately ten years ago, when guitars and drums sounded great together and when emo meant that punk had a heart, too. With so many shitty bands drooling over TheSmiths, The Cure, or Gang of Four right now, Art and Gus (last namesnot provided) are taking the guitar in a direction that many bandsseemed to have dropped some time ago. Their music is fast, destructive,melodic, and almost always on the edge of blowing up. The guitar can destroy and cando so in the context of classic rock and punk dynamics, it doesn't haveto be shot off the deep end of music and into the realm of"progressive" noise rock, extremely fast metal, or other such paths.The drums are lighting fast, sloppy, and drenched in a hazy rhythmicstyle that doesn't keep time so much as it amplifies the melodies andcacophony of the guitar. Switching back and forth between harmonicnoise, delicate tapping, and melodic, heavy stroking, the whole of thealbum stays fresh in its brevity, allowing songs to stop when they needto and not get carried beyond the edge of their appeal. It's notdifficult to listen an EP like this (originally released as a one-sided12", I believe) when it tumbles as hypnotically as this disc does,fluctuating between a scream-driven noise and a melodic honesty thatfucking blows my socks off and induces mass amounts of head banging anda desire to beat my body against other people. The music all flowstogether simply and beautifully, often leaving no room for thought.Even better, however, are some of the lyrics. While emo seems to havestretched into the realm of whining boys who can't ever seem to keep agirlfriend, Tiny Hawks throw their poetics all over the place and intointeresting mini-topics. A song like "Daniel's Striped Tiger" begins asa story about fear and ends in a political confrontation that finishesitself off with the words, "vote, assassinate, impeach." Topics changefrom song to song: from fear to the loss of a friend to the weightlessfeeling of accomplishing something great, the feeling of recovering theself, Tiny Hawks keep their heads together and give some credence tothe idea that emotional music can be powerful, not just the product ofsome jerk off reading out of his journal. Did I mention that the CDpackaging and lyrics book are simple, gorgeous, and add to the overallexcellence of the music? Maybe all this sounds a bit weighty andoverwrought, but Tiny Hawks pull it off in style, sounding strong andconfident through every second.
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