Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts
Eugene passed me the Slants album a couple weeks back. “They’re new wave,” he said. I thought of the Cure and when I saw them in 2004, Robert Smith came as strong and melancholy as ever, hair sprayed up in a liz-taylor-at-five-in-the-morning ‘doo.
Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts, the first album from the Portland based band, is less goth darkness and more techno pop. The album’s filled with hard beats and loud synth riffs that are easy to jump around to. I listened to it on my iPod, but it’s made to be blasted from large venue speakers.
Strong synthesizers and rhythms drive the tracks. Jen Cho and a guy who goes by the name “Gaijin” lead on the keys, and produce solid textures for the rest of the band, all of whom can play. Their faster tracks sound like your standard techno club fare, with pounding kicks and hard looping guitar riffs. When they slow it down, you hear more of their new wave inspirations, with tracks like Kokoro (I Fall to Pieces) recalling some of the 80s drum effects and soundscapes that those bands did so well. Lead singer Aron’s got a great full voice for the music, and he wails appropriately throughout the album.
Gaijin is the token white man in the self-conscious pan-asian band. Japanese for foreigner, the alias is part of the band’s “Asian twist,” which includes dragons on their album art and fortune cookies at their concerts. Unlike bands who avoid mentioning their ethnic differences, the Slants incorporate quite a bit of “Asian” iconography. From their slur-inspired name to the Eastern-looking fonts, their ethnic make up drives their marketing, some of which evokes the Asian kitsch that gets mass-produced and sold on Billabong shirts nationwide. They’ve gotten some controversy over their name, which they address in a F.A.Q. on their website.
Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts’s opening single, Sakura Sakura, takes Asian inspiration with a traditional koto, a flat harp-like instrument that you’ll hear (and see) in a lot of Kung Fu films. Its anthemic refrain proclaims “we sing for the Japanese and the Chinese, and all the dirty knees. Can you see me?”
Looking at their packed tour schedule, the answer is a big affirmative. Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts is a well produced album for the synth-pop crowd, and the Slants clearly have some musical chops. You can read more about the Slants at their website, www.theslants.com, and on myspace at www.myspace.com/theslants.
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