HALFWAY UP A JAGGED HILL – HUAJH

Rarely are there bands who take a different approach, limiting the number of players within said group, and you might wonder how they’re able to get such thick, rich sounds filling up song structures with an extraordinary amount of melody. The list is much more extensive than you might think, although each act is different from the next. There’s never been a better time to get down to basics than right now.

The Brooklyn-based Halfway Up A Jagged Hill – the two-man crew of  Devin Gilbert (vocals, guitar, bass) and Jeb Polstein (drums) – just released its debut album, HUAJH (Vinegar Hill Sound Records), which seems to be an exploration in melody & dissonance, channeled through garage recordings that seem to be more than just garage recordings. The band’s opening mid-tempo drawl of “Obscure Sorrows” plays a bit with dynamics around the melancholy of its musical force, with a deadpan vocal delivery, although Gilbert gets the most out of his voice, hitting the right notes, sliding right alongside the chords pieced together. At one point, his voice and dissonant notes become completely singular, and there’s a delight in not being able to distinguish between the two! But it’s “Liar” which quickly follows where the band blows everything out of the water, like fishermen utilizing dynamite instead of lures. There’s no easing into things; it’s movement at full throttle, utilizing those harmonics to round out the initial chording and dissonance. Polstein is fervent in his playing, allowing Gilbert the opportunity to wrap his guitars and voice around his punchy rhythm. HUAJH knows how to pull listeners directly in from the get-go.

If that isn’t enough, you might want to delve directly into “Silver Sword,” which just might be the band’s opus, showcasing its ability to not just play at melding chording & powerful rhythms together but also allowing for shifts in tones & rhythm. Halfway through the track, the band quiets and slows things down, but it doesn’t remove melody from it, still drawing you in with its unique structuring. Here we also get those muted screams, background vocals that give the song an added intensity. Speaking of muted, by the way, “Heaven” brandishes these muted guitar notes that are stark, intentional, and allow for angular shifts while leaving the song itself full. By the time we get to the closing “Whale Falls,” everything seemingly changes as the group shows there’s a hidden pop band underneath the wailing guitars and drums. It’s subtle, but the voice of background singer Lucy Mondello – who lends her voice on half of the album – can be heard here. We hear the coos as the song starts with guitar notes played atop Polstein’s hypnotic percussive beats. It’s there right before the song explodes into a beautiful cacophony of melody before leaning back a bit to the way it began. But the notes are replaced with chords, and there goes the fucking change again! To say the band is explosive would be putting it mildly, but the members can shift with ease, and you’d barely notice it.

At just eight songs, Halfway Up A Jagged Hill’s HUAJG leaves you wanting more; more notes, more fiery guitars, more intense drumming, and just more songs. This is just the start for the band that has the ability to morph into one of the greatest punk bands of all time.