Shadows of His Self by Harvey Eyeballs (Brooklyn, New York)
Harvey Eyeballs makes lounge music for the current — or perhaps some upcoming — millennium. At least that is what’s to be gleaned from their most recent release, the three-song EP Shadows of His Self. The EP opens, in true casino-singer style, with a cover of Johnny Mercer and Rube Bloom’s ‘Fools Rush In‘ that makes exceptional use of the flute and also of frontman Fox Schwach’s inimitable voice. That this song, performed in such a traditional manner, serves merely as a lead-in to the original track ‘Young Jane‘ speaks volumes of the talent.
‘Young Jane’ is a warm, pensive piano movement accompanied by goofily forlorn vocals. The song itself is a clever mimic of jazzy ballads that contrasts the implied old fogeyishness of the music with clever, youthful lyrics. That Harvey Eyeballs’ synthesis of old and new pulls so mightily from one side on this EP is more than excused by the exceptional and interesting playing (especially on the end of ‘Young Jane’) and the stellar, wrap-itself-around-your-head warmth of the production.
Shadows of His Self is a craftier nod to Harvey Eyeballs’ velveteen influences than earlier releases, though it is missing some of the Zappa-inspired rock flair there present. Nevertheless, Shadows of His Self represents a clever artistic maneuver for a band whose aesthetic is already built on the clever appropriation of disused themes and tones. This is an EP that could have been released in the 50s, but which would not be more pointedly comic and refreshing if it had been released anytime other than now, or anywhere other than Brooklyn.
get physical if…
-this
just download if…
-you’re looking to get pumped (any iteration of the term)
-you won’t go within 50 miles of a Foxwoods Resort
-you’re only familiar with Tom Waits as an actor
I’m going to call this…
End of Days Crooner Music
@HemlockShaw
