Music Review: American Princes' Little Spaces

by Ben Levisohn

American Princes
Little Spaces
[Yep Roc Records]

New York is an expensive city, and if you're a young band looking to live the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, the cost of living can be prohibitive. Still, bands flock to the City everyday, seeking their shot at stardom and adulation. The members of American Princes- David Slade (guitar), Matt Quin (drums) and John Beachboard (bass)- decided to try the opposite tact. They loaded up the van and headed south to Little Rock, Arkansas, the land of cheap rent and cheaper beer. Once they arrived, they picked up a true Southerner, guitarist Collins Kilgore, and set to work developing their sound.

Little Spaces is full of songs that make the most of the bands North/South synergy- think Silkworm jamming with the Georgia Sattelites. On "Man's World," the band settles into a heavy groove that never lets up- like Sherman marching through the South. Opener "I Want to Be Good" begins with crashing guitars and the singer's voice straining, like Erich Bachman during his Archers of Loaf days, as he belts out the lyrics. But the group quiet things down for the chorus as they sing, "you can you see yourself disappointed for the rest of your life," echoing the Replacements in lyrical content. Later, on the near-acoustic "Eyeliner," American Princes borrow another Mats' trope and make it their own. While "In the Dark" is a sublime acoustic song about the inability to communicate, there's nothing mellow about the impassioned singing: "In the dark/ You stare at the wall and you sigh and you say, fuck them all/ and the way that goes it feels allright/... and no one's ever gonna know/ and I want to tell them so/ and the words get stuck in the back of my throat."

"Providence, RI," lodged safely halfway through Little Spaces, is the discs finest moment. It borders on powerpop, reminiscent of undersung 90's-bands like Fig Dish. The upbeat tone belies the song's subject matter, an elegy for a lost friend. Over a melodic guitar figure and muted powerchords, the singer intones "Take me back to sunny Providence, Rhode Island/ and set me down in a bed I can lie in." Then the chorus hits: "Don't get me wrong/ I have nothing but desire to fight it/ I'll grab a bottle with my feelings inside it/.. if I stumble and I fall to my knees/ don't get me wrong/ I’d rather that you just walked on." The music stays constant throughout, but there's a clear emotional shift, as the singer shreds his vocal chords and lifts the song with voice alone until the band rises up to join him, carrying the song through to the end.

American Princes make music the old fashioned indie-rock way- with strong songwriting and impassioned vocals that wouldn't have been out of place on an album like Hotel Massachusetts. They're still a work in progress, but clearly the move South has been a good one for the boys in the band. With a new album on the way, Little Spaces heralds great things to come from these up-and-coming American Princes.