New York’s House of Feelings embody the long tradition of dance musicians feeling disappointed with clubs. Their music—by turns exuberant and melancholic, rapturous and despairing—is an expression of soul-defeating anguish with a great big smile on its face. Their debut EP, the ominously titled Last Chance, is, to borrow a phrase from Jay McInerney, a sustained assault on the citadel of good times. “I wrecked everything/I lost everyone,” runs a representative couplet on the title track, a buoyant, euphoric house number. “They say/You don’t live here/Until you cry alone on the train.” Doesn’t that make you want to cut loose and dance? This isn’t your run-of-the-mill 3 a.m. alienation. These guys have it much worse: They’re resigned to it. They are miserable and club-on anyway.
This quality of self-conscious wretchedness—of not only knowing how grim the nightlife is but addressing it with irony and wit—gives Last Chance a somewhat intellectual cast. It is, in other words, a record of ideas, conceptual in scope (“modern anxieties dissipate in the throb of the crowded club” is how they put it, not inaccurately) and often artful in design. Dale Eisinger’s sumptuous production, a melange of dance-punk hi-hats and rock-depth synthesizers and sax riffs in the spirit of Steely Dan, is frequently as intricate, elegant, and surprising as the work Tim Goldsworth and James Murphy did as producers in the early 2000s. Bandleader Matty Fasano, meanwhile, aspires to Murphy’s work with LCD Soundsystem—and if this ambition remains for now beyond his abilities, he at least shows promise that it’s possible.
He comes closest with “It’ll Cost You”—a six-minute thesis statement, part “Losing My Edge,” part “On Repeat,” that briefly realizes Fasano’s vision and looms as standing proof of his talent. “It’ll Cost You” is an excruciating disquisition on the modern struggle: on the cost of aspiration, the reality of compromise, and the suffering that’s part of the bargain of success. All the usual themes of an upbeat electronic dance track, obviously. The lyrics, so clear and so true, are intoned by guest vocalist (and New York-based film critic and Pitchfork contributor) Kristen Yoonsoo Kim with what you might call an understated ferocity, sometimes numb, sometimes vicious. “And your body/Let’s be honest/Well, it could be better,” she all but snarls. “It’ll cost you hunger/And the vain, harsh light of the gym.” The song is merciless: “And those slick smiling people you always wanted to run from/I’m afraid, I’m afraid, afraid you’re going to have to become one.”
This would be the zenith of any album. Over Last Chance, though, no other song comes close. Shamir guests on the lovely penultimate cut “Falling,” and Meredith Graves does get a lot of mileage out of a lugubrious refrain on “Avatar”—the sardonic touch suits her naturally. “I can’t make it/9 to 5,” she sings. “Not like I/Have endless time.” It’s among the album’s most compelling images. Last Chance works best as an ideas record, and Fasano could use more of them on this EP. He’s smart to harness his club-going woe. He just needs to let it stew a little longer.
