Alkaline Trio side project proves pleasing, predictable

September 25, 2006 —

Ah, the side project - the musician's solution to the mundane. Whenever a band finds itself in a rut, one of two things can happen: either the band can reinvent itself and move on in a new direction with a new modified sound, or members of the band can break away for a while and throw together some new band that is not quite the same as the original.

I suppose there are plenty more things that could happen, but I was looking for a nice segue to allow me to get to the band Heavens.

Heavens is a side project of Matt Skiba, vocalist for the Alkaline Trio, though essentially this "band" is an outlet for Skiba to perform solo material with Josiah Steinbrick assisting instrumentally.

The debut album, Patent Pending, resembles the debut from The Postal Service - a very distinct singer pairing his vocals over dubs from a skilled musician with different musical styles.

The difference being that Patent Pending does not foray into dance music nearly as much as The Postal Service's Give Up, aside from the occasional lazily thumping drum loop backing up Skiba's vocals.

And the difference between Heavens and Alkaline Trio? Surprisingly, there is not much difference at all. Skiba's lyrics are still sinister and dark, as they have always been. Just look at the first line of "Another Night" - 'Another night with your head in the oven simmering like a heat wave over you / sweat drops hiss at the bottom, blood droplets cook like glue.'

So this isn't the most romantic record ever made. But nothing Alkaline Trio recorded was ever pretty, either.

The closest you're going to get on this disc is "Annabelle," a lonely, sing-along tune that fits in only because of its theme of despair, and "Heather," which could easily be a reworking of the Trio's "Sadie."

What mainly separates Heavens from Alkaline Trio is Skiba's style of singing on this album. At times he drones like he's fronting a Depeche Mode cover band. The energy that he brings to the Trio is missing here, but not entirely necessary because this isn't a fast-tempo punk rock band - this is a slower, more melodic rock band.

But the most obvious difference between Heavens and Skiba's other band is the absence of Dan Andriano. In Alkaline Trio, Andriano handles half of the singing duties, giving each album a nice balance between Skiba's quasi-snarl and Andriano's throaty vocals.

Here, on the Heavens CD, Andriano isn't necessarily missed, but the variety is. Skiba is not a bad vocalist, but he certainly sounds better in small doses.

Fans of Alkaline Trio might enjoy this album. "Gardens" is a great song that makes this set worth a try, and "Leave" is the best Skiba's ever sounded. At the very least, Patent Pending is a good listen to tide one over until the next Trio disc hits stores sometime in the future.

And as far as side projects go, this is one that is notable, but hardly memorable. It might not have the longevity of Temple of the Dog, but then again, Matt Skiba isn't Eddie Vedder. Still, he's a gifted musician no matter what band name he is using.