by Rhian Hibner
Daily Lobo
There's a burgeoning music scene three hours southeast of El Paso, in Texas' Big Bend region. This isn't a place one would expect to find such a thing.
A quick look at a satellite image reveals a whole lot of nothing. But if one were to look closely, one might notice the tiny burg of
Marfa, Texas. This is a town of about 2,000 people, and it's literally in the middle of nowhere. It's also the hometown of the band Pleasures of Merely Circulating.
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The rock band visited Burt's Tiki Lounge on Saturday and rocked out like there was no tomorrow.
The band, which includes guitarist and vocalist Jeanne Sinclair, bassist and songwriter Chris Cessac and drummer Robert Halpern, formed in October after playing together in a country band. It's a little hard to believe the band used to play country because there is very little, if any, country influence in its current sound. It has a very fast sound. It's rock, but just barely, and it rides just on the near side of the dividing line separating rock from punk.
It's obvious that the most striking part of the band's sound is Sinclair's voice. Not many people can manage to pull off a haunting delivery while singing fast, punk-style lyrics, but she pulls it off nicely. When asked where she learned how to sing, Sinclair denied having any formal voice training. Instead, she professed to lots of practice.
"I used to sing along to Leonard Cohen and try to sing the harmonics," Sinclair said.
The band knows its instruments well, especially Halpern. All the members have played since they were children. Halpern has used the same drum set since he was 11. It's obvious he's perfectly at home with it. His drumming ties the band together. A lot of bands starting out tend to neglect the drumming more than anything else, but that is not the case here.
Cessac's bass playing is enjoyable, as well. This is especially true when he's playing counterpoint to Sinclair's guitar, which is just as good as her voice.
Even with good musicians, no band can survive without a decent songwriter. Cessac knows what he's doing. It especially showed on one track in particular, "Topolobampo." The track makes good use of Sinclair's voice, while at the same time, it effectively ties all three instruments into an almost seamless whole.
Pleasures of Merely Circulating have an EP out called Four Songs - 530 Seconds of Pleasure. Hopefully, it's the first of many as the band is planning to record an album this spring. If all goes well, it should be back in Albuquerque sometime this summer.
Pleasures of Merely Circulating
Grade: A
