Port Au Prince: Hollow Bones
As Astrophagus’ primary singer-guitarist, Jason Cain eschewed pop guidelines with the liberties his former band’s experimental-rock status granted him. With his latest project, Port Au Prince, the singer-guitarist returns to the world of tradition, turns his aim toward pure-pop songwriting on the band’s debut EP, and finds that pop conventions aren’t nearly as easy to rediscover as they are to abandon.
Ditching Astrophagus’ spaced-out grandiosity to fiddle with a folk-pop/electronic hybrid, Hollow Bones isn’t nearly as flashy as Cain’s previous act—but that doesn’t mean it lacks ambition. Led by Cain’s unaffected vocals and hushed guitar work, Port Au Prince rests on the twin foundations of Pet Sounds and the whitewashed roots/folk that’s so popular with NPR listeners. While Port Au Prince certainly isn’t the only act on the block working that angle, the delectably used reverb and Josh Cain’s keyboards, which peek out of the mix in the most unexpected places, help set the Denver five-piece apart from other acts jockeying for a few lumens’ worth of the underground spotlight.
Port Au Prince only seems truly comfortable within its pop framework on “Jesus Kathleen,” a crushed-heart ballad that pits Cain’s creaky folkie voice against shimmering keyboards and layers of vocal harmonies that give the track a surprising amount of depth. The other three tracks catch the outfit bobbling between extremes of pop showmanship (the backing vocals that hold “Paramour” together are dangerously close to gimmicky) and nondescript roots-pop (“Carry Or Quit” seems unambitious when compared to the rest of the EP). As collection of demos, Hollow Bones shows Port Au Prince feeling its way forward, testing out the new lineup and discovering its identity. If that identity lies in “Jesus Kathleen,” the band may just be onto something.
For now, Port Au Prince finds the Cain brothers reacquainting themselves with the songwriting fundamentals they so proudly ignored in their last band. Pop reeducation is hard work and, as Hollow Bones shows, it isn’t always quick.
