Posted on September 04, 2011 in Album Reviews
By Kevin Steeves

Peapod Recordings

The recording studio is a dangerous place. Since the 1960’s advent of multitrack recording and the subsequent advances in technology, it has become easier for a band, regardless of their previous studio experience or musicianship, to walk into the studio and have an album completed within a few hours. When Portland post-punk torchbearers Huak entered the studio to create their first new set of recordings since 2009′s “Secret Trees EP,” the question became whether they could successfully translate their stellar live show that they had perfected between albums to their latest effort.

Would they join the long list of once-great bands who fell victim to the studio? Or had the extended period of time away from recording allowed the band to hone their sound? Take solace: “Yorba Linda” isn’t only the most cohesive recording to date for Huak, but translates their overwhelmingly powerful live show to an album terrifically well.

Those who have been able to see Huak live within the past year will be happy to know that most of their best new material appears on “Yorba Linda,” most recognizably the frantically jagged “Our Friends.” “Our Friends” is Huak incarnate, as Joel Glidden’s traditional, lush guitar work is the ever present counterbalance to lead-singer and guitarist Jacob Lowry’s signature sparse, spaced-out guitar. “When the last of the satellites have fallen down/And networks cascaded to the ground/It fell like a damn cruel joke,” Lowry defiantly proclaims, being driven by the on-point rhythm section of drummer Mike Cunnane and bassist Stefan Hanson.

The not-so-secret source of “Yorba Linda’s” successful leap from live chaos to a controlled studio recording, is producer Ron Harrity recording the majority of the album live in studio. The success of this transition can be heard in the futuristic wall-of-sound standout, “Cannibal Planet.”

The call-and-response relationship between Lowry and Glidden hits a new high, as prog-rock theatrics quickly devolve into an unholy mess of punk noise. While most may latch onto Fugazi as an immediate comparison for Huak, “Cannibal Planet” reveals a much more varied approach to the music of the band, as they seamlessly transition between angular math-rock of Shellac to the experimental wash of Sonic Youth.

Huak has come a long way since their unassuming debut “Trajectory,” not only in their musical ability, but in their influence and scope. The constantly shifting and evolving Portland music scene has established them as reliable veterans, and for all the right reasons. “Yorba Linda” is a sprawling and accurate testament to the emotional tenacity of Huak’s live experience and shows nothing but perfection from one of the most reliable acts from Portland.