Arts & Entertainment

Emo-kings Elliot soul search at the Engine

By Ray Hafner
Senior Staff Writer

If a hardcore band were to start writing ballads, filled with the heart of the latter and the zeal of the former, they might sound like Louisville, Ky.is Elliott.

Long-missing from the Houston music scene, (their last concert was more than two years ago here on campus in Oberholtzer Ballroom) Elliot returned to Houston on Tuesday for the kind of performance that will get them invited back much sooner than 2005.

Elliotis show at the Engine Room featured exactly the sort of impassioned performance from lead singer Chris Higdon that separates Elliot from the host of pretenders to the emo-kingis throne. While anyone can write a song with heart, it takes something special to show that heart night after night. Higdon will make you cry for sure.

Short and bald, looking like a buffer version of Moby, Higdon is a wired mass of nerves that explodes when Elliott hits the high points in their power ballads, like "Calm Americans," which is a "middle-earth love affair with common-man themes," Higdon says.

The band drew the biggest responses from material off their last release False Cathedrals, but with an album due in April, the band made sure to experiment with their sounds.

Guitarist Jay Palumbo also sets the group apart by adding in the wicked-tricky, psychedelic and trippy guitar effects that lie over and under every song. The Engine Roomis lighting setup allowed a kaleidoscope of colors to dance upon the closed eyelids of kids grooving to the music. Some kids who had been chatting with Miss Mary Jane in the parking lot seemed to really enjoy this trick.

Itis become a cliché to say a guitarist danced or made love to his instrument, but Palumbo literally cavorted across the stage with his guitar, his eyes closed in amorous anticipation.

The night was marred by low vocals, which prevented Higdonis normally haunting voice from lingering in listenersi ears.

As the band left the stage, a large part of the audience left the club, skipping out on the nightis headliner, Further Seems Forever. They probably made the right decision.

Best known as the band that Chris Carraba ditched to start up Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever has gotten over the loss of that vocalist and developed a sound thatis all its own.

The unfortunate part is that the bandis sound really isnit worth hearing. Trite lyrics disguised in metaphor are inaudible to all those who didnit memorize the CD. Touring on their just released album How to Start a Fire, FSF played too many of their new songs, leaving the kids who hadnit bought the disc (or downloaded it) out in the cold.

Elliot, Further Seems Forever

Engine Room

The verdict: Elliott will be touring in April. Maybe theyill teach Further Seems Forever a few things.
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