Houston Calls “The End of An Error” – Album Review
I still remember driving East on the 134 in Burbank and talking to Jarrett Seltzer from the band Houston Calls about their upcoming video for “Exit Emergency”. I’d had an idea for a video for a while and it involved shootting pro wrestling in black and white like Raging Bull. It had probably been in my head for about two years and here I was, in the middle of a courier job, on the phone with a band I’d never met, convincing them that, if we just changed the wrestling to underground fighting, we could probably make the video for cheap. And they were into it. I don’t know why, but they wanted to make the video. Flash forward almost five years, and it’s not hard to believe that the band and I are still friends. I still can’t believe I got someone to agree to that video.
Today the band releases their second album, titled The End of an Error. Drama seeking internet trolls have already attributed endless connotations to the meaning of the album title. Is it the end of the band? Are the members unhappy with their current label situation? Are they feeling relief at finally releasing an album so long in the making? I’m of the simple belief that the guys just think it’s a funny name for an album. But maybe I’m also waiting for them to call me up and end our friendship, a mistake the band probably should have never started.
Projected endings aside, The End of an Error is a turning point in the band’s history and sound. Those of you who were fans of Houston Calls A Collection of Short Stories won’t be so quick to find your favorite tracks on The End of an Error. There are no clear cut pop rock bounce tracks like Exit Emergency or easy to identify romantic dance songs like Bob and Bonnie this time around. This album might take a few extra spins to get used to for anyone simply expecting ANOTHER Collection of Short Stories. If I had to give you guys a similar metaphor, I would say that The End of an Error is “Insomniac” to A Collection of Short Stories “Dookie”. The songs this time around are a little heavier, seem to have been more carefully put together and are a bit less accessible at first listen than the earlier release.
But the band has made us wait this long for a new album so be patient and you’ll definitely be rewarded. I can still listen to Green Day’s “Stuart and the Avenue” a million times more than anything on Green Day’s first hit record. The songs that will jump out at you first are the ones closest to resembling Houston Calls’ earlier outing. Modest Manifesto, the first track, has the similar drum beats and back up vocals. If The End of an Error were a swimming pool for the earlier fans, Modest Manifesto is the trick that you tell yourself to jump right into the deep end rather than braving the cold with your big toe.
Life Won’t Wait… you can tell this song is going to be different from the slow crawl of the opening vocals. The chorus is poppy and enthusiastic but the verses are the first sign on the album that the band is trying something different this time around. “I’ve got four controllers and four good friends. We keep it real until our lives all end. Whatever was I thinking? The best times of our life are just beginning.” Life Won’t Wait works as a “get off the couch” call to arms to those of us who might be trading in the advancement of our dreams for another week of comfortable arrested development. This is a song that might resonate quite well with the Geekscape crowd. A Shot in the Dark is the other song on The End of an Error that seems closest to Life Won’t Wait as far as appealing to the uninitiated Houston Calls fan. It’s fast, clean and radio friendly. If you’re going to go out, with the intention of hooking up, this is probably the song you want to get you pumped and ready to lay it all on black.
Stay With Me Tonight is where The End of an Error starts to take its turn. A slow building ballad, it’s more disciplined than anything the band has done previously and shows the most progression. Even with it’s careful pacing, it only clocks in at a hair over four minutes so this isn’t a song that’s going to test your patience or squeeze in a redundant chorus just to milk the emotions. Behind the Gun has a similar hook-laced chorus and another patience rewarding rhythm. The last half of Error is where it becomes apparent that the band has taken what they learned over the last few years of playing tracks off of Short Stories and pointed those lessons in a different direction. This album takes the familiar and pushes the listener to hear those sounds in a new way. Tom’s voice is complimented pretty well by Okie and newcomer Jose does a pretty good job of taking over for Short Stories’ Kenny, the only band member to depart after that album’s release. On some of the tracks, Jose gets a chance to shine a bit and it helps to throw some fresh energy into what you’re hearing.
You Can’t Simi always makes me think of our Geekscape listener DivaDawg. She lives out in Simi Valley and I’m always comparing it to the distance it would take to get to the moon. This song’s open makes you believe that your going to hear another slower paced ballad but around the 40 second mark it breaks into an up tempo song that keeps things rolling a bit. Jose also gets some showcase time during the bridge. This is one of my favorite songs on the album, simply because it has so many pieces crammed into its simple structure.
The Oaks on Prince St., the last proper song on the album (there is a hidden track), is probably the one that best epitomizes what Houston Calls is offering with The End of an Error. It’s got a heavier and more stretched out rhythm to it and delays the payoff the longest. But the rewards are there. I’ll be honest, when I first listened through Error, it took me a few listens to figure out what the band was doing. As the last surviving band from Drive Thru Record’s sister label Rushmore, it seemed like they had taken all of the good karma that they had built up with A Collection of Short Stories and asked too much of an audience already waiting patiently for a follow up. I wasn’t convinced that the slower, more careful pace of the album was working for me. But did I really want another release of their debut album? The name of the game with The End of an Error IS patience and carefully picking through the songs on repeat. This isn’t the highschool graduation party soundtrack that the previous album was. This is four years later, and however you take my metaphor as it relates to the album title, End of an Error works best as a quiet, personal reflection on the day after college graduation, when you walk through an empty campus and collect your things, preparing for the next step in your life. It takes longer in getting there, but the rewards are things you’ll keep with you forever. When I put the album in that context, it makes perfect sense to me and the band’s current statement becomes clear. The end of an Error sets them up perfectly for what comes next.
The members of Houston Calls were guests on Geekscape Episode 70. Their new album The End of an Error is available on iTunes, online and in most record stores across the country.
The band is currently on tour in the UK with You Me At Six and Farewell.
