Belonging - Hollow Cells (Dipterid Records)

The debut album from Belonging (Hollow Cells, available on vinyl from Dipterid Records) should come with a government warning: listening can be highly addictive. This Portland trio isn’t here to put a bird on it or talk about cacao…but they just may be here to let us know that rock ‘n roll isn’t OVER.

image courtesy of Portlandia/IFC Productions

The drums are punishing, the guitars are loud, the bass anchors each song to your soul, and the vocals soar above the sonic mayhem in a beautifully mixed masterpiece. If you’re looking for prominent keyboards, you’ll have to dig into bassist Jeremy Hansen’s side project (Tiny Holograms). Guitarist/vocalist Bryce August and drummer Shane Heilman complete this power trio in a truly Voltron-esque manner. The sum of the total sounds like a well-orchestrated army of musicians, not three guys who recorded a batch of their songs  (at Portland’s Lo-Rent Sound) during the pandemic.

The opener (Lady Vanishes) starts mechanically rhythmic, melodic, and strong, but leaves just enough headroom to crank the intensity of the second track (Buzzkill) to eleven. And then they have the audacity to play seven more tunes that are equally good! To my ears, this is one of those rare bands that plays music interesting and creative enough to win over fellow musicians but catchy enough to win over more casual music fans.

If you’re going to do one thing today, it should be to put on some headphones and give Hollow Cells a listen from start to finish. And then try to resist buying it on Bandcamp. And then try not to get too giddy when you find out that there will be new music coming in the near future. Okay, that’s three things, but they all go together.

Recommended for fans of: Melvins, Mastodon, Small Brown Bike, Sunny Day Real Estate, Curve (MN)