album review: Too Tall To Hide

I first heard of Halloween, Alaska from one of my oldest high school friends who's a bigger music nerd than I am. He sent me their self-titled first album but I didn't pick up on it right away. I still had a hard time listening to songs longer than five minutes and not getting bored. The song that did grab me on first listen was "State Trooper", which I would years later discover was a Bruce Springsteen cover. After starting to make monthly mixes in 2007 I revisited Halloween, Alaska and discovered their complexity and beauty. When I learned they had a second release I downloaded it almost reflexively, and in that sense I didn't give it due listen right away.

Too Tall To Hide starts out impatiently. The staccato keyboard and subtlety-effected vocals grip you right from the get-go and only build from there. I have imagined listening to this album to relax me before falling asleep, but the thought of the way it starts scares me. "A New Stain" is nothing if not paranoid. The voice grows frantic and strained before the keyboards unleash a contrastingly subtle, yet equally haunting melody. This song first caught my ear on my January mix of 2009. Cold nights driving home from work still pop up in my heard when I hear it.

The second track, "Drowned", is not so daunting, but is similarly attention-grabbing. The persistent drum beat under steady notes relentlessly trek on when the lyrics come in to make observations of the song's subject. 'All around you is love', the singer repeats, as to show something that can be so obvious to one, yet unknown to another. The song explodes in a chorus reprising the theme line, this time not in a soothing whisper but a confident yell. After the chorus wanes, a harmonized vocal section comes in to affirm that 'hope won't weigh you down'.

From there, the album settles into more familiar territory. Soft-spoken poetry over easy-going electronically enhanced rhythms. "You And Me Both" highlighted an October mix, and it's keyboard intro still screams of Autumn weather. Ambient, trebly keyboard and guitar flourishes are bone chilling additions. The chorus is a cacophony swirling of effected-guitar, and a clean outro gives the song a intriguing and even more eerie finish.

Last year, Halloween, Alaska released Champagne Downtown, which became not only the first physical CD I bought in a long time, but also my frequently lauded 'album of the year'. It was that disc that taught me what it is I love in music. If there was any songwriter I could lose a day in conversation with over the meaning of his lyrics, it would be James Diers. Pop melodies and subtle electronic compliments are, truly, music to my ears. While Champagne Downtown instantly became a classic in my collection, Too Tall To Hide has over time emerged as my favorite. If the album's title can be an interpretation of it's sound, then it is Halloween, Alaska stretching it's legs and finding itself at a height of music making that is unavoidable and impressive.