catapult magazine

any “pedro the lion” / david bazan fans will want to take a listen here, to “headphones” his new side project.

Headphones features David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), Tim Walsh (Pedro the Lion, TW Walsh), and Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59). Headphones was engineered and mixed by Jared Hankins in Seattle in the early days of 2005.

Built wholly from synthesizers (that?s right, no guitars), live drums, and the familiar warmth of Bazan?s syrupy vocal delivery, Headphones boasts deft arrangements with timeless melodies and uncanny lyrical depth, finding Bazan, Walsh, and Lenz at their best. Clean, open room recording; digital subtleties with analog affectations; seamless integration of electronic and rock and elements ? Headphones is a striking, sophisticated success.

Headphones poses a stark simplicity, relying on a limited number of voices ? reminiscent of early records by Low. Thematically, Headphones treads dark waters where a certain frankness and antagonism work to confront issues of love, loss and loyalty head on ? straight forward, no bullshit, no fucking around.

Headphones music

Listen to streaming music / download 1 mp3

After Cornerstone and a performance I saw at Reckless Records in Chicago, I wasn’t sure about Bazan. The performances seemed too spiteful. But his set at Calvin College was great. It renewed my allegiance. Bazan’s confessionalism is very refreshing. The lyrics from the new album articulate some of the tensions in the Christian community very effectively.

I enjoyed his set at Calvin as well. I was sort of iffy on the Headphones project when I first heard the album, but the more I listen to it the more I dig it.