Javelin: Hi Beams

"When artists switch up their game, people tend to pay a little closer attention. ... The stakes are maybe not so high for the duo Javelin, who are admittedly not a household name. But last month when Javelin — an act known more for samples, sound-collage and audio pastiche — released their new record, Hi Beams (on Luaka Bop, David Byrne's eclectic, genre-busting label), they made a similar move, playing instruments and singing. ... Their 2011 release Canyon Candy took old cowboy records as source material and turned the steel guitars, loping rhythms and yodeling into a kind of surreal dub patchwork. ... Hi Beams doesn't excavate a focused stylistic terrain like Canyon Candy. It's a bit more wide-ranging. With soft-rock harmonies evoking 10cc or Wings, aggressively robotic vocal processing, hopped-up dance-floor beats, twinkling synths, overdriven bass lines, and ample hand-claps, crisp snare-drum patterns and perky finger-snaps, the record is equal parts high-energy pep music and serene futuristic pop. ... As the band explains in their notes for the new record, 'We chose the name Hi Beams because the songs evoke to us a sense of sky, stars, night, and warmth -- they are bright bodies of light that wave hello'" (John Adamian, "Air Quotes: Javelin and Their New Sky-Gazing Material," New Haven Advocate, 4/25/13).

View catalog record here!