Band For Hire

AMG Review of Band For Hire

Stanton Swihart
All Music Guide

The second album from Columbus, Ohio popsters 84 Nash displays a band pinpointing and whittling down its influences and forging a boldly confident musical statement. Band For Hire opens with a single, brittle guitar riff and drums that sound like an updated version of "Melt With You," before the first song, "The Giggle Party," swirls into a high-octane pop song full of waves of guitar far removed from the synthesized '80s. In fact, 84 Nash are more likely to refer back to classic rock and heavy-metal textures in their music, as filtered through a rough-edged modern pop screen, complete with stray sounds, juxtaposed shards of unsettling noise, and "woo woo's" ("I Speak In Falcon," for example) that surely shows evidence that the band has listened faithfully to Pavement. 84 Nash is even more pop-influenced than that band, though, and is less reliant on clever lyrics (though there are plenty of those here, too). The other major influence on the band seems to be Guided by Voices, with their fractured, immediate approach to melody and the untutored messiness with which they attack their instruments. That influence shines through without overpowering songs as strong as "Actress From Actorsville" and "Mao Tse Tsung." Band For Hire is so consistently spectacular that it makes listing highlights virtually impossible without slighting the many slightly-lesser lights. "Snacks of Wealth" is a bone-cruncher of a song, except that any bombast is eradicated by the band's vocals, which are bull-horned from out beneath sneering, crying guitars, though any self-respecting metal band would spit on a melody as strong and pop-worthy as the one employed by 84 Nash. "Cinnamon Block" has a gorgeous, emo-like melody and intensity. Surprising production details elevate many songs on the album to that next level of pop accomplishment. "I've Got 'Em All" switches into gear with some lovely piano about midway through the song, and the electric piano that dots "Slower Version of Friends" adds a layer of pensiveness. An oscillating synthesizer introduces "Sandful of Hand," the finest song on Band For Hire, an aggressive, downcast song with an introspective melody. But it is not the finest by far. Every song on Band For Hire competes aggressively for that distinction.