One morning in 2009, Hays Holladay woke up in his Washington, D.C., home physically unable to move, stricken with what doctors would eventually diagnose as temporary paralysis. One spinal surgery and a few months later, Hays and his brother Ryan—who together make up D.C. electro-rock outfit Bluebrain—returned to their home studio to put a backlog of material on record. The result is an inspired, genre-straddling debut LP, Soft Power, which the duo will release Thursday night with a show at the new U Street Music Hall. With the opening harpsichord lines, rolling rhythms, and orchestral accents of “Royal Blue,” the Holladay brothers set the stage for the lush, perplexing affair that will follow. “Up & Down” is a multi-textured gem, leaping from bubbly piano-pop to meticulously-arranged electro-funk within the space of a few bars (along with an addictive interlude of “up-up-down-down”s that evokes tender memories of a fatality code from Mortal Kombat). “Ten By Ten” sparks the record’s second wind, dressed in lofty bursts of Basement Jaxx-style reverb hooks and a frenetic dance-floor bounce beat. The upbeat tone persists through “Doctor Doctor,” a straightforward work of indietronica that calls to mind the poppier sides of MGMT.
Things get a tad murkier in the album’s back half, with “Caught Up In The Laughter” as the recognizable pivot point. There are still catchy moments in the subsequent tracks, though the ominous melodies and atmospheric tinkerings in “Rotten Apples” and “Funny Business” lack the raw adrenaline of their predecessors. But that’s not to say that the record trickles off as it approaches the deep cuts. If anything, it evolves, swelling from clever electro-pop ditties to dense, cathartic arrangements.
Grade: B+
http://www.avclub.com/dc/articles/bluebrains-soft-power,39209/
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