The Privates Drawn from a host of Nashville’s finest local, national and international indie exports, The Privates quickly shot to the top of the local rock hierarchy with their frenetic pinball rock after forming in 2003. 23-year-old singer and guitarist Dave Paulson loaned second guitar duties to pop-punk provocateurs The Pink Spiders on the road until recently. Bassist Keith Lowen also holds down the low end in De Novo Dahl, drummer Rollum Haas is a member of circus-popsters The Features, while keyboardist Ryan Norris performs with Lambchop. With the group dividing their time between such a myriad of high- and low-profile acts, it’s a wonder they managed to release three stunning works since their inception. The nine-song, eponymous debut was a frantic jolt of elastic dance-punk, while the follow-up EP, Louder Than Lightning, crashed through a manic blast of giddy fuzz-rock on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Both recalled influences ranging from the complexity and experimentation of Deerhoof to the shimmering dissonance of The Walkmen, run through The Privates blender of fury, humor and quirky sensitivity. The band’s first full-length, Barricades, was written while Paulson was on the road. “Most of the songs on this album were written on tour with the Spiders, and have a lot to do with being away,” says Paulson. “For the band, the writing and recording was shaped by us being in and out of town at different times. Some songs we never played as a band—we’d do things separately and email each other MP3s of what we’d done.” Despite such scattershot working conditions, Barricades is a more focused and linear record than anything the band have produced thus far. Though many tracks clock in at under three minutes, the record tames the combative chaos of previous releases in half the time, exhibiting a wide-reaching range while still exploring stop-start dynamics, the cacophonous layers of experimental noise acts and the hooky immediacy of pop. Drums gallop alongside chugging guitar riffs in a seamless blend on the frantic trajectory of “Atrium.” On the record’s trotting title track, “Barricades,” the keys warble beneath Paulson’s disaffected croon as the song expertly mimics achy resignation with its exhalation of an ending. The poppy stab of “Heart’s Got a Hole” uses a cascade of guitar swipes that duck in and out, then climax alongside drunken la-la-las and an exasperated resolution. If The Privates were likely victims of eternal side-project status, Barricades proves the band are fully realized, more mature and deftly playing to their strengths. Though the band were always praised for their visceral thrill, the latest record is evidence they’ve mastered that tension and release and now control it on all fronts. |
Releases
Band Members Dave Paulson Ryan Norris Jeith Lowen Rollum Haas |
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