I love it when this happens: you shove on a CD by a band you've little or no previous knowledge of and it just COOKS! It's a feeling so good you can barely describe it, you just know instinctively that you're listening to a band to truly cherish and you've got to get to the bottom of them.
Well, this feeling's enveloping your reviewer now as he plays PROVAN'S stunning "The Conquering Pain Act" for the umpteeenth time and now he can't wait to share it with you.
OK, let's stop beating around the bush. This is what you need to know immediately: PROVAN hail from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC; they number four in all - Joe Kelly (guitar/ vocals); Bill Lutz (guitar/ vocals), Marc Bendian (bass/vocals)and drummer Colin Devine. "The Conquering Pain Act" is their second 6-track mini-album/ EP (I've not heard their debut "Act Like You've Been There Before" yet, but I'm damn well going to backtrack!) and it's as cool a ride into the heart of the twisted US underground pop heart as you'll take all year.
Opening track "Let Down" was itself enough to send this writer into raptures. With an eerie, underlying dissonance a la Mission Of Burma circling the track like a flying saucer, PROVAN have the nous to also fling in a Bob Mould-style vocal hook and the sort of "ba ba ba" backing vox that Julian Cope would still love into their melting pot and make the whole thing work like a dream.
Game on, then, but the great news is that the songs following in its' wake continue to thrill. "Royalty" is classic US power-pop in the Huskers/ Guided By Voices tradition with sharp, bitten off riffs, nagging "sha la la"s and generally catchier than the barbed wire around the average military installation. "Idiot Lines", meanwhile, has that chugging, slightly arrogant swagger that only the finest Eastern seaboard combos can muster and the terrific "Fire Watching Time" admirably demonstrates how effective PROVAN can be when they slow it down a little and get all plangent on us.
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Even better is the fact that they save the very best 'til last. Indeed, "The Conquering Pain Act" signs off with a formidable double whammy in "Kid On A Stick" and "William Lee." The former is relentlessly catchy, riding on Bendian's mega twangy bassline, a gloriously RIGHT guitar solo, some wickedly cool lyrics ("And when you smile it;s like the eyes of God have turned in my direction") and is cut from vintage US dumb/smart pop cloth. "William Lee", in contrast, begins as a moody sunset piece before coming full circle and recasting itself as a stomping, abrasive thing (again with echoes of Mission Of Burma), flying us away in a smoking capsule of feedback. Disorienting, but great, I can imagine it as an excellent finale to the band's live shows.
The four members of PROVAN have true pedigree with each of the band's four crucial members having previously served with respected Alt. Pop/ hardcore outfits from New Jersey, NYC and Philadelphia. As PROVAN, however, they have unearthed that indefinable, alchemical X factor that all undeniably distinctive rock'n'roll units just seem to exude despite themselves. Make no mistake, "The Conquering Pain Act" is an absolute must have.
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