Versus:
Hurrah (Merge)

I don't know what the heck indie rock is, but I do know that Versus are one of its best practitioners. Indeed, let's celebrate Hurrah, the band's fourth full-length (to go along with at least as many EPs and a sterling collection of rarities). The formula hasn't changed much through the years: guitar-propelled songs featuring Richard and Fontaine singing, lyrics about boys and girls or boys losing girls or girls losing boys or short, sharp observations on the status quo or space (at least on previous recordings, this time out water seems to be a theme from the frozen "Eskimo" to the whimsical "Mermaid Legs").

From their home base in New York City, it's apparent that when not on the road, Versus check out the local noisemakers, particularly Sonic Youth. Certain songs on Hurrah elongate to six minutes with mini movements within, bending from a wall of noise courtesy of guitarists Richard and James Baluyut to near-silence and back again. The brilliant "Frederick's of Hollywood" is the prime example of this with the added bonus of a New Yorker's withering gaze at LA: "Irrigate the desert floor/Palm trees galore/Build a city with TV sets/Manipulate the populace."

Fontaine checks in with two of her strongest songs since "Forest Fire," the unrelenting "You'll Be Sorry," with its simple, haunting chorus warning us that "people change their ways," and "I Love the WB," perhaps the album's best track. The heroine has decided to leave a relationship knowing it will be hard at first, but the payoff will be empowering.

I'm feeling paranoid
Cut out and torn apart
Frustrated excited and maybe depressed
But I know one thing for sure
I'm out of love with you
The realization comes with a punch in the chorus. Employing seaworthy metaphors that I seem to be a sucker for, the song's narrator sees that the relationship was never a sum of equals.
You are the ship
and I am under you
You've got a way
I sit still for you
You are the sails
and I am the wind
I lift you up,
but you never see

Three cheers for one of the best records of the year.

Rating: 9

--Tim Frommer
 

your shot
Think you can do better? Email us your pithy comments on the cd's and shows we review, and the lists and essays we write. We'll publish excerpts in future editions...

review archive

front page