The Hold Steady: Heaven is Whenever

(a note: I’m not posting any mp3s here because the album isn’t out yet – you can and should pre-order it here if you like physical things like CDs and 7″s and vinyl, and here if you don’t care about that and/or want two extra songs.)

When I was 15, I listened to Poison and Warrant and Guns n’ Roses and Def Leppard and Bon Jovi and Prince. Now I’m 35 and I listen to LCD Soundsystem and Los Campesinos and the Mountain Goats and Yo La Tengo and Neutral Milk Hotel and Prince. Whether that’s an improvement, I suppose, depends on your personal tastes, but either way, I’ve spent the intervening 20 years searching for music, expanding my horizons (or at least discovering their boundaries), and generally learning more and more about what I like and why. I went through a minor goth phase (the music, not the clothes so much). I went through a shoegaze phase. I went through an indie rock phase. And now I’m old enough that I mostly like what I feel like liking, without worrying too much about what category it fits into.

However. I’m also young enough to remember being 15 fairly well, and I remember what I liked about those bands – they were direct and uncomplicated and fun and anthem-y, the lyrics were stupid, the choruses were easy to remember and easier to sing. I suppose I didn’t really have much to rebel against, so I didn’t need punk or metal or anything like that – I just liked loud guitars and hooks, and “Nothing But a Good Time” has both in spades. For example.

Which brings me to the new Hold Steady record; as a self-proclaimed bar band, it’s not like they were hiding from their heritage. They borrow liberally from Springsteen/the Stones/whoever and throughout four albums have charted a fairly mainstream rock sensibility, even if the subject matter and precise style shifted from record to record. Separation Sunday is the ambitious and complex song cycle, Boys and Girls in America is the catchy as hell, anthem-y teenage sex/drugs/whatever record, Stay Positive is the one where they stretch out a little and try new sounds and make it two or three songs too long.

Heaven is Whenever, though… it’s immediately the most appealing and the most cheesy thing they’ve ever done. There are more guitar solos per capita, Angus Young riffs, sing-along choruses – when they said it was going to be a more complex, less anthem-driven album, that was either ironic or they were kidding themselves. Even though Boys and Girls was arguably as catchy, it was also a lot more complex and stylistic. This one sounds like they just decided: fuck it, let’s just make a full-bore no-frills rock record. But also – I love it. Both the 35 year-old me and the 15-year old me. I love the lyrics, as always, but I love the crowd pleasing main riff in “Rock Problems,” I love the steel guitar in “Sweet Part of the City,” I love the way “We Can Get Together” reminds me of being 22 and falling in love twice. (great lyric: “Heaven is whenever / we can get together / lock your bedroom door / and listen to your records”)

So anyway – thanks, Hold Steady. You have yet to disappoint (me), but this one hit me by surprise and reminded me what I needed from music when I was 15. Also, this year is shaping up to be pretty memorable, music-wise. Thoughts on LCD Soundsystem forthcoming.