Geek rock is building a dedicated audience consisting primarily of high school and college students looking for some artist to express the frustrations and joys of life in the age of the internet. Bands like Weezer have been known to sing the praises of the nerdier in life; Hum, on the other hand, takes the genre to a higher level with their latest offering, Downward is Heavenward. Mixing clever, jargon-saturated lyrics (sung by Matt Talbott, who bears a striking resemblance to Bill Gates) with aggressive noise pop and catchy melodies, they breathe new life into a rather specialized genre.
Their previous album, You'd Prefer an Astronaut, was somewhat disappointing, with the only standout tracks being "The Pod" and the band's biggest single to date, "Stars". This album, in contrast, is very consistent, with each song (with the exception of the ballad "Apollo") suffused with distortion drenched guitars churning out power chords alongside tasteful little riffs. What pushes the sound over the top, however, are the effects used on each song. For each distinct song, the band never seems to use quite the same elements to showcase the well thought out melodies. "Ms. Lazarus", for example, features undistorted electric guitars strummed throughout the song, accompanied by various half-riffs that really add to the effect of the track. This strumming builds to a climax at the middle point of the song, and the guitar tones suddenly become distorted, playing the same melodies, and giving the song a sense of release. Another standout track, "Dreamboat", gives the listener a hint of synthesizer, recalling bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, and helping to produce a swirling wall of noise that transports the listener to the lyricist's world. "Green to Me" (which has been featured on 120 Minutes) has some killer stop/start hooks, as well as touches of feedback, adding up to a song that can easily get stuck in any music fan's head.
Lyrically, there's nothing overtly spiritual, but neither is there anything objectionable. The main themes seem to be escapism through love and technology. Most of the jargon on the technical side seems to reside in the biological realm. "Dreamboat", for example, ponders a life on an underwater vessel. A sample:
I know a girl who makes me shine;
My dreamboat's leaving on a submarine,
She's got a second pair of tanks and all I ever want or need.
The album is replete with quotable lines, like the melancholy quip in "The Inuit Promise":
So I'll be like you and do what's right
And win a love I deserve out on the ice tonight.
Teach me the bluest song you know.
The strongest song on the album, however, has to be the final track, "The Scientists", which attributes a female persona to the biological downfall of the world.
She says 'keep this benzene ring around your finger
And think of me when everything you wanted starts to end.
And I saw living clusters form in pools beneath her feet
Invertebrates that only she can see
And I said 'what on earth are all these ampuls for?'
She says 'exactly, we're not gonna wait around here anymore.'
Downward is Heavenward is quite a step forward for Hum; it manages to get its point across (the title seems to state that the longer we allow the environment to decay, the closer we come to death) without being preachy, and the band's esoteric lyrical style really forces the listener to think about the words being sung without overtly drawing attention to the subjects of each song. And the music is well-executed noise pop. Said originality and good songwriting combine to make Downward is Heavenward one of the better releases of 1998.
4 tocks
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