Purling Hiss started off as the solo side-project of Mike Polizze, then the guitarist of Philadelphia free-form heavy rock outfit, Birds of Maya. His first release, a self-titled CD-R that was later pressed to LP, didn’t stray far from that band’s sound. The songs, which were recorded to a cassette four-track, were simple and spontaneous-- thick with blistering solos, bluesy churn, and lo-fi gristle. But deep down in the murk, Polizze stashed a handful of great hooks. On Public Service Announcement, his third LP under the name, but his oldest set of recordings, the guitarist spliced his fuzz-addled leads into three chord pop songs that recalled 90s classic rock apologists like Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets.
Since then, Polizze has expanded the project into a power trio, recruiting drummer Mike Sneeringer and bassist Kiel Everett, and hit the road opening for Kurt Vile, Woods, Wilco, and Dinosaur Jr. Water on Mars, which is out on Drag City, is the first record that this lineup has done together and also the first of the band’s LPs to be assembled in a professional studio. As a result, the murk and sloppiness of the early records has been mostly swept away.
Purling Hiss is one of a community of Philadelphia-area bands that have been combing dino rock tropes through weirder, outsider sensibilities. Most of the band’s peers-- Kurt Vile, the War on Drugs, and Blues Control-- fold spacey effects and new age tones into chord changes that venerate Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. Ambience isn’t Purling Hiss’ thing, though. They rock at high volume and in earnest. Album opener, “Lolita”, could have snuck onto the b-side of Nirvana’s Bleach, riding a screeching riff that ping-pongs between octaves into a sleazy, chugging verse. Indie rock guitar hero status is too easily bestowed these days, but Polizze deserves some recognition. He’s not a show off, but his playing betrays a few years spent patiently studying guitar heroes both cool (Kawabata Makoto) and uncool (Grand Funk Railroad).
On Water on Mars, Polizze makes an effort to show off both sides of his songwriting-- the heavy, gnarly stuff, but also the slacker-pop hooks that made Public Service Announcement stand out. As a lyricist, Polizze steers clear of deep reflection and introspection. He’s a more of a generalist, blurring everyman rock thoughts (“Everybody wants to have a good time”) with a little bit of urban dirtbag dream logic (“Found a god in a parking lot, saw a life in a grain of sand”). His softest turns here, “She Calms Me Down” and “The Harrowing Wind”, are as moody and skewed as any of his bedroom tapes.
On the record’s title track, Purling Hiss’ two personalities blend together. The song, which carries on for more than seven minutes, inverts the usual verse-to-jam trajectory. Polizze’s vocals only arrive after five minutes of fuzz-wah histrionics and rather than building to a dense crescendo, Sneeringer keeps the band in line with a steady marching rhythm. It’s heady and blown out, but somehow easygoing at the same time. The ability to slide between these two poles is what makes Purling Hiss’ unique. They have the riffs, but none of the anxiety.
