porch - walking boss

Porch

Walking Boss
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Andrea Abi-Karam

The players of Porch have been making music for twenty-five years, and the compositional prowess of their latest album Walking Boss proves it. Porch prides themselves on their dedication to analog creation. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Louder Studios in Grass Valley, CA. The contenders for this ten-track album are Todd Huth on guitar/vocals, Michael Jacobs on drums, and Christopher Frey holding it down with heavy bass.

The album boldly starts off with an 8:15 minute long track, “Heart Attack.” The intro builds slowly, with a lot of white space, or rather dark space, between pure tones until about three minutes when the “heart attack” hits you with high caliber, repetitive guitar undercut by heavy bass. The heart attack lets go just as the listener feels it welling up inside them as the guitar falls down a few octaves to a lower timbre. The vocals waste no time with lip service as they start off with the socio-political commentary “heart attack / the American dream.” The aggressive, slappy bass outlines the vocals, definitely giving them an extra dark push.

“Ballad of Cruelty” exhibits Porch’s slower smoky rock capabilities and more involved songwriting. The refreshingly simple guitar melody is simultaneously sexy and sad. Alongside the chorus “on the road / feeling / on the road / feeling like everyone’s /gone away” the guitar and vocals claim a special traveling loneliness.

“Dark Corner” demonstrates a unique question and answer phrasing, which is difficult to do in this stripped down mode but they do it very well. The bass line asks the question and is answered either by a simple guitar riff or the vocals. Towards the end Huth slips in to Bush groan style vocals. 

I could take or leave a few tracks on here, but the features are “Heart Attack,”  “Ballad of Cruelty,” and “Dark Corner.” Also check out the impressive metal drive in “Bow to the Clown” as well as the skillful strumming in “Manana.” I look forward to a future EP   from Porches, with possibly slightly shorter songs and improved songwriting. 

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