What images would this album conjure if it came in a plain sleeve, without song titles? Or if we didn't know it was released on Constellation Records, the label famous for Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other bands that champion repetitive instrumentals with an anti-capitalist subtext? I ask because the packaging of Kicker in Tow, the second album by Montreal's Hangedup, bears images of workers and Olympians racing through giant iconic gears straight out of Metropolis. Song titles like "Moment for the Motion Machine" and "Automatic Spark Control" evoke the burdens of industry, where we can assume that the proletariat's getting the short end of the paradigm.
But is that prejudicial? Hangedup has given us a context to hang onto, but the music brings the anxiety: The first track, "Kinetic Work", decks you with an urgency reminiscent of CNN's "A Nation at War" theme music. Even when the pace slows the mechanical clamor never lets up. But describing this in industrial terms may be misleading, because these are two acoustic musicians, and they conjure these images impressionistically, with organic, rather than rigid, music.
Hangedup is the duo of Geneviève Heistek on viola, and Eric Craven on drums and percussion; both are also members of the band Sackville. (Sackville bassist Harris Newman guests on a track, and to keep it in the Constellation family, GY!BE member Efrim Menuck recorded it.) Their duet project, however, is massive. Heistek bows with a fine tone but a welder's touch, sawing raw waves of notes to stay above Craven's busy yet austere drumming. There's some overdubbing, and Heistek throws in some pedal-triggered samples, but that just accentuates the band's girth: This isn't a duo that sounds like a full band, so much as two people who tread like giants.
From the brief "Moment for the Motion Machine", which sounds like a small hammer tapping an anvil, to the heavy, almost danceable "View from the Ground", the nine tracks sound not like songs so much as individual machines that get switched on, whirr, and shut down again. "Motorcycle Muffler" demonstrates a steady build-up but only the longest piece, the twelve-minute "No More Bad Future", has truly fluid development; and while some tracks are springier than others, the dark mood only lifts on the last one, "Broken Reel" (presumably meaning a dance). Its role on the disc is less clear: Is this where the workers find their way to freedom and the clouds break? Does the more natural rhythm counteract what preceded it? Or did they just want to end on a high note?
Hangedup can sound like a one-trick pony, in spite of how awesome that trick is. The acoustic-industrial sound starts off innovative, but you can get tired of listening to "CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG." And compositionally it might be tighter if they trimmed the pieces to a concise suite-- say, the kind of thing you'd hear from the percussion-friendly new music ensemble Bang on a Can. But Bang on a Can never rock this hard: For sheer proletariat energy, Heistek and Craven knock down all contenders. Kicker in Tow is not an essential album, but the band is a must-hear.
