Homebody is a Denver experimental rock band we all can love. Download “Tame” now.
Quite often, “experimental music” is over-thought. ‘s music, however, may be under-thought. Of course, this requires an explanation.
All music should be experimental. Otherwise, the artist is only traveling proven ground, safe and the same. But too often, when bands are experimental — and especially rock bands — it means listeners are left behind like voyeurs of a test rocket. The common purpose of the songs becomes lost to the band showing musical dexterity, or absurd creativity, or trite novelty, or a host of other concepts that show more clever brain power than songwriting craft.
Truly, there’s nothing wrong with this approach, even if it is pretentious. Certain music fans geek out on it, while others are mostly ambivalent — no harm done. And at least the band seems to be enjoying themselves!
Homebody is an experimental band that avoids this, and it seems its success is in thinking too little, or at least appearing to do so. Thing is, Homebody clearly has the deft musicianship and intellect to compete with the more pedestrian approaches to experimental music — they play well-crafted, complicated songs — but they take a punk rock approach. As in, they don’t give a shit whether or not you’re impressed with their experiment. And as a result, we are.
Homebody released its first EP, “EP 01,” earlier this month, and played its first show in August of 2013. And since then, it has garnered more curiosity and compliments from Denver music Illuminati than its 283 Facebook fans evidence. Even a blog from Denmark interviewed them, though googling them produces almost nothing. The beauty is that, beneath the abstraction, the constant changes, the experimentation in combining notes that shouldn’t work together, there is always a mindfulness towards the listeners in the room. This may be a conscious decision, or an inherent sensibility, but there is a love of pop music throughout.
The band also recently released a for the track ‘Tame,” available for download below. The video begins with a dude — maybe a band member, it’s hard to tell — running slo-mo down the street with his shirt off. It’s a not-so-obvious reference to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ video “Under the Bridge” that’s hammered home when the guy appears later walking down an alley wearing a RHCP shirt and miming Anthony Kiedis. Immediately, one thinks this is a send-up of the RHCP, but is it?
Another reading could say it’s Homebody having a little self-deprecating fun, in the don’t-give-a-shit attitude. Homebody’s music tends to feature a fairly clean, picked guitar at the top of the mix, much like the guitar melody in “Under the Bridge.” And if listeners experiment a bit, one can imagine “Tame” coming out of “Under the Bridge” thrown in a blender. The dude is also seen eating too many bananas, as “Red Hot Banana Peppers”? Or perhaps this band is bananas.
Like true homebodies, Homebody does all the work themselves: recording, booking, publicity, etc. And the band will tour its lo-fi EP in 12 cities in 13 days throughout the U.S. East Coast and South, starting with a hometown show at the on May 14. Listen and buy the EP on , then come out and see how musical experimentation can be fun.
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
If you’re a band or musician ready to expose your fresh sounds to the readers of Reverb, email your tracks — along with any interesting facts about them, as well as a photo or album art — to Steal This Track for consideration.
Josh Johnson is a Denver freelance writer and Reverb contributor. He’s also a journeyman butcher. Seriously.
