The Lonelyhearts
Disaster Footage at Night
(Three Ring, 2008)

Before I delve too deeply into Disaster Footage at Night, the new record from the Lonelyhearts, we should probably start with a little back-story here, because, for a change, it’s not unimportant. John Lindenbaum and Andre Perry, the band’s two principal members, went to college together, and in the years immediately following, became friends while playing in bands in the San Francisco area. Lindenbaum was writing alt-country songs with a band (unfortunately) called Rust Belt Music. Perry was doing the space-rock thing with the Kuffs, and when that began to fall apart, he started the Lonelyhearts as a solo side project. Before long, it would come to include Lindenbaum. EPs were released, tours were booked, etc.

It’s not a terribly complicated or uncommon story, but it’s notable for two reasons, one of which is as old as the sun, while the other is as new as, well, the internet, I guess.

First, Lindenbaum and Perry have vastly different styles. The former is clearly from the school of the American Greats, most clearly evidenced by his vocals. His voice is nasaly, to say the least, and delicate, with syllables shakily stretched out just a little bit longer than you might expect. It’s Neil Young through and through, basically, and the similarity pops up everywhere in his songs. Perry, on the other hand, is coming from a place a more directly informed by mostly-American indie rock. He displays a more nuanced knack for less traditional instrumental flourishes, the most obvious point of comparison being Grandaddy, but perhaps the more accurate one being former member of the Go-Betweens, Robert Forster, whose deep assured vocals are recalled constantly by Perry, as is his penchant for smooth, lush arrangements.

The fun here, one would think, is that these two different sensibilities are forced to live under the same proverbial roof, each one constantly pulling the other toward it, eventually, and maybe ideally meeting somewhere in the middle. Strangely, but not altogether disappointingly, this never really happens on Disaster Footage. Perry and Lindenbaum allow each other to do his own thing to a shocking degree. With a few exceptions (”Notes on the Reassignment”, “The Carpenter”), you can usually tell within a few seconds whose song it is, and while more apparent collaboration might be nice, it’s difficult to complain when there’s this much great material.

Perry’s “Harlequin Bands” is his most obviously infectious song on the record, but “Notes on the Reassignment”, with its more stripped-down arrangement, is probably the song where he sounds most comfortable. Lindenbaum doesn’t pull any punches or waste any time, with his most notable performance coming in as his first: “Overpass” is a nearly seven-minute story-song with an admirably single-minded approach to melody, hammering away on the same simple figure over and over again till it has its desired effect (memorability, silly).

The other thing worth noting about the Lonelyhearts is admittedly less important to the actual music, more something to keep in mind as emblematic of another way in which the musical landscape is changing. Lindenbaum and Perry manage to keep the band together while living in different cities: Lindenbaum is in the San Francisco Bay Area, while Perry is in Iowa City. They presumably accomplish much of their work through electronic means—it’s nothing too earth-shattering, of course, but in addition to explaining why things on Disaster Footage might seem a little disconnected from time to time, it makes it even more impressive that it’s as cohesive as it is. It also adds an interesting element to the band, injecting a pronounced bit of modernity into a band that seems so rightfully and endearingly enamored with the traditional rock ‘n’ roll spirit of community and collaboration.

Listen: “New Virginia” [at thelonelyhearts.net]

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