Yes, Bazan's latest outfit, Headphones, is a departure from Pedro The Lion instrumentally, with T.W. Walsh (Pedro The Lion) and Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59) helping the cause, but hardly thematically. The themes are once again dark, morose, and everything else you've come to love from listening to Pedro over the years.
And with a new self-titled record, a brief tour came, with the band a two-piece consisting of Bazan and Walsh.
Preceding the Headphones, Suicide Squeeze labelmates Crystal Skulls, turned out an unexpectedly tight set of their own. In support of their new album “Blocked Numbers,” the band had spark of their own, showing their potential for innovation in the band's future. Frontman Christian Wargo (bearing a striking resemblance to the late Ian Curtis of Joy Division) led songs like "Hussy" with a clear voice, while the band backed up with dance rock beats and timely arranged instrumental fill-ins. Hardly rookies to the rock club circuit, members of the band played in previous Seattle bands Seldom and Scientific.
Headphones opened the night with "Gas and Matches" the first song of their self-titled album. The band went on to play an eight-song set with Bazan seated behind a few synthesizers and Walsh behind a drum kit.
"It's nice to be playing in front of 50 people again," Bazan grinned, commenting on the crowd, which was considerably smaller than shows with Pedro The Lion on the bill. And in lieu of audience Q&A as during Pedro shows, Bazan joked at his slight intoxication and gave his praise for a certain left-wing Chicago radio talk show.
Perhaps the highlight of the night, and Headphones record in general, was Bazan's brazen infidelity anthem "I Never Wanted You." As he leaned back in his piano stool, his jaw opened up wailing, "You never had my heart / Our love was never true."
Headphones is really a continuation of Pedro the Lion, but a successful one at that. With the help of Walsh and Lenz, Bazan stretched himself musically in a way that helped steer away some of the clichés that haunted the last Pedro The Lion recor, “Achilles Heel.” Similarly, the Crystal Skulls revived a couple of old bands to make a crisp sound of their own. It's nice to see such experimentation work so well on the same night.
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