His Name Is Alive’s Warn Defever doesn’t consider himself a perfectionist. In the press accompanying the release of XMMER, Defever described his studio time as an exploration, rather than perfectionism, “I don’t really know what I’m doing, plus I can’t make up my mind. Some people call it ‘experimental’, but I think the only experiment is to see what happens when I’m left alone in the studio for six months.” Call it what you want, the songs on XMMER display depth, vitality, and intrigue. The guitar work may remind you of Queens of the Stone Age (“Sangaree”), Zeppelin (“Oh Miss Flower”), or Queen (“Go To Hell Mountain”) at times, but after Defever’s done tweaking, they sound as if they were plugged into a pocket amplifier, rendering them hardly a threat to overpower the light, airy vocals of Andy FA (Andrea Francesca Morici), and muting any shouts of rock revivalism. While his new found love for the kalimba, gives numbers like “The Wolf Put His Mouth on Me” and “How Dark Is Your Darkside” an exotic feel. Whether His Name Is Alive is working with the familiar or the foreign, one constant in these numbers is their undeniable sense of balance: the most spacious productions show an amazing degree of depth, and the boldest ones still leave enough room for each sound to be heard. A good part of my weekend was spent getting lost in the sounds of XMMER, now its your town.
MP3:His Name Is Alive – Come to Me (Silver Makeup Version)
MP3:His Name Is Alive – Go To Hell Mountain
MP3:His Name Is Alive – How Dark Is Your Dark Side
His Name Is Alive – Come to Me (Album Version)
XMMER by His Name Is Alive is out now on Silver Mountain. Also, the Silver Makeup EP, is still available as a free download from HNIA’s website.
