The Chicago four-piece band, halfwaynorth, has dubbed itself “the best opening band in America.” It’s a humbling title for an emerging band. Most bands would be dreaming big rock star dreams, complete with limos and nubile groupies, but not these guys. Though being the best at anything is a good thing, seeing themselves as just an opening band, even the best opening band in the country, paints the members as not ego-inflated, but very realistic and driven. It also positions the band so that it can take the next leap, which it did recently, headlining a show to raise funds for breast cancer research.
Halfwaynorth’s recent three-song EP, Ghost Shuffle, is a departure from their previous album, The Breakup?, which was more of an acoustic rock CD. Though the lyrics are still thoughtful and angst-ridden, the feel of Ghost Shuffle is definitely more electric rock and roll. The track, “Powerlines,” does echo that earlier work with its blend of matchbox twenty radio-friendly pop/rock and the intense Eddie Vedder-like wail that guitarists Jason Abraham produces on his vocals. “Back to the Uhh,” in contrast, is grounded in a more electric sound. The full switched-on effect is evident in “I Call Your Name.”
Hearing Abraham’s vocals and the band’s musical style, however, call up images of fresh-faced pop/rock idols like John Mayer. The members of halfwaynorth look more like the tech-heads that people take their computers to for debugging or maybe members of a punk garage band. This once more speaks to the humility of halfwaynorth. It’s all about the music.
But it is clear that halfwaynorth’s acoustic roots inform the way this EP has been produced. The lyrics of the songs are foremost in each of these tracks, not the instrumentation, which is not flashy but strongly-based in technical skill and passion. Abraham is amply supported by Joe Shields on guitars, Eugene Limb on bass, and Chris Darby on drums. Though, for example, there is some sweet guitar soloing at the end of “I Call Your Name,” that isn’t the experience that band wants fans to take away with them. It is the songs, the whole feel of them. They have catchy hooks and memorable choruses, and something to say–about relationships, purpose, life. “Powerlines,” in particular, is a poetic image-laden work with many layers that most listeners will miss unless they sit with the track for awhile. Only then does the richness of the work of come through.
If halfwaynorth got out of Chicago and brought their work to a wider audience, they might be the twenty-first century’s new Pearl Jam. There certainly isn’t anything halfway about this band.
Review by Janie Franz
