What do you get when you cross a drummer from Argentina and a bass player from Sweden with a poet and a guitarist from San Francisco? The answer is a brilliant new band called Wire Train, and one of the most impressive debut albums of 1984, ...in a chamber.
Two years ago however, founding members Kevin Hunter and Kurt Herr were anything but impressive, not knowing a single guitar chord between the two of them. Nevertheless they eventually linked up with the international rhythm section of Federico Gil'sola (drums) and Anders Runblad (bass) to form a band called The Renegades. They changed their name to Wire Train after a legal run-in with another band sporting the same name, and soon after their music caught the attention of Howie Klein. He signed them to his 415 label and put them in the studio with David Kahne — a producer who is best known for his work with Translator. …in a chamber is the result of their intense 17-day recording session. And what a result it is!
If comparisons must be made, the band's influences are no secret. Wire Train's sound is a unique mixture of the styles that characterize band's like REM, U2 and The Church. Consequently the album is full of jangling guitars, passionate vocals enveloped in a heavy reverb, ethereal melodies, and snappy rhythms that pulsate and explode with a fiery intensity.
The album takes off at a breathtaking pace with the punchy opening song “I'll Do You,” and there is no holding it back. The chiming guitars of Hunter and Herr and the steady beat by Gil'sola and Runblad provide this song with all the makings of a bona fide “pop classic.” Yet it's lyrics like “I could make a horse's head of all your friends,” and “Magnetic eyes, like cartridges without their shells,” which give the song an obscure poetic quality that easily lifts it a cut above most ordinary pop tunes. “Everything is Turning Up Down Again” and “Never” are equally intriguing both musically and lyrically.
The band catches its breath for a moment on the dreamy “Like,” and then fills out side one with the rousing “I Forget it All When I See You.” This is definitely encore material and it could easily become the triumphant signature song for the band that “I Will Follow” became for U2. The two songs even share a similar structure. “I Forget It All When I See You” surges along on a mounting drum beat that gathers momentum like (what else?) a locomotive, breaks into a quiet interlude awash in space echo, and then lunges back into an anthem-like refrain. This is definitely not a song soon to be forgotten.
Fortunately the group sustain the driving energy found on side one throughout the rest of the record. Songs from side two like “Chamber of Hellos” and “She's On Fire” blaze with the same musical chemistry that infuses the first five songs and sets side one alight. Indeed, originality and ambition shine on all the tracks and Wire Train never derails once by lapsing into stale ideas or pretentiousness. Take my word for it, this is one train you don't want to miss.
—This record review first appeared in The American University school paper, The Eagle, in 1983.
Two years ago however, founding members Kevin Hunter and Kurt Herr were anything but impressive, not knowing a single guitar chord between the two of them. Nevertheless they eventually linked up with the international rhythm section of Federico Gil'sola (drums) and Anders Runblad (bass) to form a band called The Renegades. They changed their name to Wire Train after a legal run-in with another band sporting the same name, and soon after their music caught the attention of Howie Klein. He signed them to his 415 label and put them in the studio with David Kahne — a producer who is best known for his work with Translator. …in a chamber is the result of their intense 17-day recording session. And what a result it is!
If comparisons must be made, the band's influences are no secret. Wire Train's sound is a unique mixture of the styles that characterize band's like REM, U2 and The Church. Consequently the album is full of jangling guitars, passionate vocals enveloped in a heavy reverb, ethereal melodies, and snappy rhythms that pulsate and explode with a fiery intensity.
The album takes off at a breathtaking pace with the punchy opening song “I'll Do You,” and there is no holding it back. The chiming guitars of Hunter and Herr and the steady beat by Gil'sola and Runblad provide this song with all the makings of a bona fide “pop classic.” Yet it's lyrics like “I could make a horse's head of all your friends,” and “Magnetic eyes, like cartridges without their shells,” which give the song an obscure poetic quality that easily lifts it a cut above most ordinary pop tunes. “Everything is Turning Up Down Again” and “Never” are equally intriguing both musically and lyrically.
The band catches its breath for a moment on the dreamy “Like,” and then fills out side one with the rousing “I Forget it All When I See You.” This is definitely encore material and it could easily become the triumphant signature song for the band that “I Will Follow” became for U2. The two songs even share a similar structure. “I Forget It All When I See You” surges along on a mounting drum beat that gathers momentum like (what else?) a locomotive, breaks into a quiet interlude awash in space echo, and then lunges back into an anthem-like refrain. This is definitely not a song soon to be forgotten.
Fortunately the group sustain the driving energy found on side one throughout the rest of the record. Songs from side two like “Chamber of Hellos” and “She's On Fire” blaze with the same musical chemistry that infuses the first five songs and sets side one alight. Indeed, originality and ambition shine on all the tracks and Wire Train never derails once by lapsing into stale ideas or pretentiousness. Take my word for it, this is one train you don't want to miss.
—This record review first appeared in The American University school paper, The Eagle, in 1983.