San Francisco – Chris Baio now finds himself in somewhat of a unique position, at least amongst his bandmates. The bassist for the unstoppable indie quartet Vampire Weekend may not be as recognizable as frontman Ezra Koenig or keyboardist/producer to the “indie elite” Rostam Batmanglij, but things are looking bright for the multi-talented Baio, seeing as he is about to have a leg up on his cohorts as the first of the four to release a solo studio LP.
Baio now joins the celebrated ranks of performers such as Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Parliament’s Bootsy Collins, blasting through the often soft-spoken role of band bassist to a new position of power as a solo artist. Baio has been toying with his own compositions since the release of his three-track Sunburn EP back in 2012 (none of which appears on The Names), comprised of a quarter of an hour’s worth of instrumental electronica that borrows facets of what is often referred to as “world music,” the only vocals being some instances where layers of indistinguishable chanting takes the form of an instrument of sorts. This is particularly evident in the EP’s final track “Tanto,” which utilizes the talents of Chilean-turned-German techno producer and vocalist Matias Aguayo (popular for his contribution to the 2011 song “Ice Cream” by math-rock outfit Battles), who often uses avant-garde vocal stylings as keystones to his own pieces. The Names, however, follows a different path, showcasing not only Baio’s talents as a composer and gifted multi-instrumentalist, but as a vocalist as well; an area within which he truly shines.
The album begins with a one-two punch in the form of “Brainwash Yyrr Face” and the title track “The Names,” both boasting a welded variety of electronic music styles that are bridged by Baio’s flexible vocal range. “Brainwash Yyrr Face” starts out ordinarily enough, yet it’s the addition of a sort of demented, digitized harpsichord-like sound that immediately sets this collection apart. At first it’s bizarre, until Baio’s vocals come in shortly after, temperate and breezy like a summer night, lulling the listener into a state of blissful reassurance. It’s only a matter of seconds before we are jolted from such a place of peace by the exclamatory addition of disjointed female vocals arranged in a maniacal, mosaic-like fashion, refracting the initial placid tone into a more energetic one. This happens a couple of times before the heart of the piece comes through in the instrumental bridge that carries to the end, setting somewhat of a tone for the rest of the LP.
Following track “The Names” addresses this juxtaposition a little more gracefully, as the beat and overall timbre of the piece is similar to “Brainwash,” yet leans a little more towards the straightforward side of things. The song is punctuated beautifully with minute details, such as the addition of a distant-sounding ‘ping’ here and the distorted plucking of a string there. Baio’s vocals are far more prevalent in “The Names” than they were in “Brainwash Yyrr Face,” becoming the central focus early on—the way in which his first line is sung is a constant element of the song—and remains as such through the very end. Baio does his best impression of Dave Gahan in this song—hanging in the deeper end of his register, exaggerating his lowest notes and adopting the Depeche Mode frontman’s signature wilting approach to long vowel sounds—and it works brilliantly. This (perhaps subconscious) homage to Gahan more or less repeats itself throughout most of the album’s tracks, even in the brighter, especially in songs like “Matter” and the cheerier sounding “Needs.”
A majority of the content on The Names is fueled by electronic composition and production, the most extreme case being the fourth track “I Was Born in a Marathon,” a veritable massage for the eardrums due to its high-energy attack driven by rhythmic digital percussion. This is swiftly joined by gentle breezes of softly building melodic synths that echo a sort of reverberated dream-pop inspired guitar. These mild bundles of sound wait patiently in the background while the foreground is dominated by the other more up-tempo elements of the song, including some mechanical vocals that sound like they are reciting some sort of incantation through a firewall (somewhat similar to the incomprehensible vocals in Sunburn’s aforementioned collaboration with Matias Aguayo, though perhaps more distorted). However, halfway through the track, everything falls silent, and for a few moments it sounds like it’s over, until a few seconds later when Baio’s voice returns adorned in balmy reverb, hovering above a bridge of acoustic guitar that laps serenely at our ears until the end of the song.
Only two other tracks on The Names explore the more analog-friendly world as “I Was Born in a Marathon” does towards its conclusion, though they do so without sacrificing Baio’s apparent love for vocal reverb, allowing them to remain cohesive with the rest of the album. One is the penultimate track, “Endless Rhythm,” which relies mostly on piano, drums, and bass (or at least digital sounds tailored to sound like those instruments) to act as the undercurrent to Baio’s hushed, computerized singing. He says it is “a song about itself, a song about writing a song. It’s kind of about the relationship between people and art, about the process of making a record, where there’s a part in the middle where it’s really frustrating, the idea of waiting for this song to come.” The other song is “Sister of Pearl,” which has served as the album’s lead single for the past several months. The use of acoustic guitar, piano, and drums is more assertive here, and speaks to the song’s lyrical content of staying true to oneself. Perhaps this is again a nod to Baio’s roots as a musician, though again, he has no problem cranking up the echo effects on his vocals (he employs some very interesting vocal affectations in this song), save for the repeated spattering of “ooooohs” which remain completely unaltered as they are cooed following each chorus.
There are also just a couple songs on the album that stay true to Baio’s initial solo work by remaining completely instrumental, the first of which being the LP’s sixth track (and the longest on the album, clocking in at just over seven minutes long) “All the Idiots.” The track starts with an electronic whine that is dissonant and uncomfortable at first, but that goes away as soon as the house-like rhythm pops up and a gentle, repeated trickling cascade of synthesized melody comes out of the shadows and invitingly takes the helm. Another layer of higher-pitched synths comes in, intertwining with the first, and then another, and another, until the song sustains its footing as a carefully woven tapestry of beeps and bloops that dance around each other with ease and precision. It all climaxes at around the five-minute mark with the final addition of crackling techno interjections that bring to mind the surprisingly harsh sheen acts like The Chemical Brothers are known for. It’s eventual decay and release are appropriately truncated, allowing the song to lull itself to sleep without losing its initial energetic aura. The only other instrumental track is the album’s closer “Scarlett,” which sounds akin to an extended version of a Vampire Weekend song before the vocals were mixed in, which is a nice reminder of where Chris Baio got his start, yet still allows Baio to shine on his own via a thoughtful outro that exhibits his newfound path as a solo artist.
Being someone who constantly listens to and writes about music, strong opinions are often formed and biases are built up—especially over time—but first impressions are perhaps the most important aspect, as they often are (or said to be) in other parts of everyday life. That being said, it’s rare that an artist comes along and with one album—and a debut, to boot—can meet, exceed, disappoint, and confound my expectations all at the same time—after ONE listen. Frankly, it’s terribly exciting. It means that music is becoming interesting again. It means an artist is hitting all of our soft spots, whether they are part of our egos, our hearts, our minds, or our singular tastes, all of which could use a little abuse from time to time. It also means the album has a strong sense of nuance, which is extremely important in such an age as this, when overstimulation due to our obsession with devices has diminished our collective attention span to that of a blueberry muffin. It’s nice to surrender to that which makes us uneasy, and to do so these days seems to have become increasingly uncommon.
Chris Baio himself says that while “working on music there’s the initial blast of inspiration and then after that it’s like solving a puzzle.” The same could be said for the listener. Those willing to do the legwork and dig into this collection of music will find that they are rewarded. For others, a conclusion will come easy: maybe you love it, maybe you find it too fragmented and chaotic. All are valid opinions. However, in the case of this album—and all music, actually—I urge you to take your time, question first impressions, and simply explore what is being offered. After all, when an artist works as long and as hard as most artists do in crafting their vision, shouldn’t we take at least a little time to piece the puzzle together? You might find something that ends up truly surprising you. Happy hunting, detectives.
The Names is out September 18th via Glassnote. Baio has scheduled a handful of tour dates through September and October in the US, Canada, and the UK, including a spot at this year’s Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco in mid-October. For more information visit his Facebook page.
Corey Bell
Latest posts by Corey Bell (see all)
- Jagwar Ma’s ‘Every Now & Then’ is Quite the Ride - July 31, 2017
- 2 New Bands at Voodoo Music Festival Day 3 - November 4, 2016
- 5 New Bands at Voodoo Music Festival Day 2 - October 30, 2016
Pingback: 6 New Bands At Treasure Island Music Festival - Preview
Pingback: More New Bands At Lollapalooza 2016 - Best New Bands