Duos have been a mainstay of rock music ever since one can remember. The Black Keys, No Age, The Ting Tings and of course the White Stripes have thankfully rid the music world of the stale notion that rock is a numbers game, proving that a pair is just as capable of making the same amount of noise as a standard quartet. Nowhere is this fact truer than in the case of Cleveland duo Mr. Gnome, who in their second full length album ‘Heave Yer Skeleton’ pull out all the stops, running the gamut of every emotion known to man and thus providing the listener a sonic experience rich in fantasy.
The closest reference points usually considered while describing a band like Mr. Gnome are female led Blonde Redhead and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but a more accurate comparison would be perhaps 90’s post hardcore legends Shudder to Think with their incredible similarity in the grasp of melody and rhythmic assault.
Using the same set of instrumentation as most duos, Nicole Barille (guitar/vocals) and Sam Meister (Drums) throughout this 12 song LP refuse to follow any convention instead opting for genre defying antics. Paradox is significantly woven throughout the album - delicate one second and explosive the next, alternating between cute and aggressive, the album travels wherever their imagination or technical prowess allows. A single listen to the striking ‘Today Brings a Bomb’ or ‘Pixie Dust’ establishes a somewhat undoubted fact; you’d be hard pressed to find a tighter band.
While the harmonious guitar lines of opener ‘Spain’ and ‘Titor’ are no indications of the belligerent sound that crowds the majority of this album, they offer up a sort of calm before the storm for the pummeling revved up guitar on songs ‘Plastic Shadow’ and ‘Cleveland Polka’.
Outstanding tracks such as the brilliant ‘Slow Side’ and ‘Sit Up and Hum’ contrast Barille’s feminine sweetness with Meister’s virtuosity switching between powerhouse drumming and deftly played rim shots with ease, establishing him as one of the most underrated drummers in the scene today. Even with just two people at the helm, they somehow manage to create sounds of orchestral proportions; Barille’s attractive vocals coupled with a bulk of driving moody guitar parts drawing the listener in even deeper.
‘Searider Falcon’ an instrumental which also proves to be the heaviest track on the album, appears to be designed for the sole purpose of putting subpar rock bands out there to shame. Truly through tracks like the playful yet somewhat dark ‘Vampires’ bordering on pop and the all too short ‘Hills, Valleys and Vallium’, which notably wouldn’t seem out of place on a dream pop compilation, they have issued a challenge to their peers, to expand their musical lexicon and range of expression, and throw off some of that stifling rock and roll orthodoxy.
The album comes to a close with the funeral procession opening of the title track, Meister complementing Barille’s whispery thin vocals with a moving piano riff, a somber end to an incredible record where everything down to the art is stunningly unique and perfectly appropriate, furthermore with absolutely no filler these are tracks are bound to stick in your head for days. Ultimately it is an album that comes along every so often to reaffirm your faith in rock ‘n roll. An album that doesn’t sound the least bit contrived, it's exactly as it should be, one of indie rock’s best kept secrets.
