Secret Carrboro Ninja Patrol: Show Review: The Huguenots, Album Release Party

Local 506, Chapel Hill
April 8, 2011

Stealing through the energy field of razor sharp smiles and angled bodies that made up the Local 506 bar room in the space between a cliff hanger opening set by The Tomahawks and the highly anticipated album release set by The Huguenots, I shuttered my camera rapidly catching revelers in high action. I took the door and and rounded the corner with my camera shouldered catching a half dozen smoke breakers off guard. Antagonizing a few group shots and handing out matches I swapped a few stories...only one of which was based on fact. That is...I'd seen The Huguenots perform on two occasions, once as an opener for The Love Language at Gerrard Hall hall on UNC campus and again as the opener for both Aminal and Ther Mercators at Motorco in Durham. These as well as many other times I'd seen them billed they were "also playing" ...a welcomed attraction for a night of local indy pop, but not quite the headliner. A hyped crowd awaiting their performance just in side the door hinted that The Huguenots will likely have their name in the bolder print at the top of many show posters in the near future.

I was interrupted just a few dramatic versus into a rant-observation in the direction of Tomahawks keyboard player Jeff Crawford about the paradoxical nature of "sounds like The Beatles" beatings and the degree of talent that it actually requires to "sound like The Beatles." About then the chiming bars of The Huguenots first song drifted from the open door. Ears perked up and then a loud voice from the group announced, "oh man, that's my jam!" ...The Huguenots were opening the set with the single worthy "I Would Say" and the out siders stamped cigs and rushed the door creating a slip stream clear to the front of the stage room.

I caught the wave and washed right to stage right where my shutter found a dazzling light show animating The Huguenots in a primal spectrum of darkened hues...emergency melt-down red, alien invasion green, dark side of the moon blue...for the attentionaly challenged this was better than methylphenidate, but for the music appreciative, it was just something interesting to accompany the already great sound. This was their album's release, a work they have been at for over four years and they grabbed the audience with it and pulled them through a high voltage set reproducing their time in the studio. Self titled The Huguenots is at its core, a fun album. Songs are written with memorable pop hooks in mind and rock instruments in hand. The runaway favorite "I Would Say" is a defining pop gem that introduces The Huguenots as a band capable of enrapturing their audience with dreamy arrangements, clever come-ons, and gleaming harmonies that shine through the mix with British age feel. This is an album offering dynamics well beyond the typical four-piece rock outfit and its arriving just in time for a summer season of fun on the local rock circuit. Keep and eye open for show posters with a scribed "The Huguenots" in bold at the top and go let them sharpen your smile. --Carrboro Ninja

The Huguenots