HUFF THIS!

http://directcurrent.squarespace.com/on-the-radar/2009/2/7/huff-this.html

Huff This!
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 5:59PM

The brainchild of classically trained dancer Allison Clancey and radical puppeteer Molly Allis, New York City's Huff This! know how to put on a show. I saw them in Nevada City, CA and they had an on-stage art installation, about 6 different guest musicians rotating on and off the stage, and a troupe of local high schoolers performing choreographed dance routines in the audience. At the center of it all, the two women pounded out visceral, gothic pop to a full house of captivated onlookers.

I throw out the term "gothic pop" tentatively, as any sort of genre classification fails to accurately encapsulate their sound. Their spare arrangements - usually just piano or acoustic guitar anchored by Allis' rock-solid drumming - and spectral vocal harmonies evoke Cat Power, but their dynamic range extends beyond the limits of that comparison, too. Their self-titled demo contains haunted breakbeat grooves reminiscent of Portishead but also angsty, driving punk that recalls The Breeders (coincidentally the song "Huffer" springs to mind) or riot grrrls Sleater-Kinney. On their tongue-in-cheek cover of New Kids On The Block's "Right Stuff," lines like "I can see it in everything you do/Even in your thoughts" drip with menace, transforming the teenybop tune into a creepy stalker's lament.

Huff This! just wrapped six weeks of recording in Graham Nash's home studio in Los Angeles, and will release their full-length debut later in 2009. The new material finds the duo's sound maturing rapidly, owing to the pair's intense touring and recording efforts. Allis explains, "As a duo we've uprooted ourselves and gone on some amazing adventures this past year, through touring and traveling. Things have felt epic for us, and we are trying to capture that feeling in our upcoming songs; that we're traveling into the unknown, coming across some big waves, but we're learning how to ride them." Single "Seahorse" will see digital release in the next couple weeks.


- Direct Current

HUFF THIS! is the best band ever in the universe all the time.
Two hearts sensitively collaborating to create a brave collection of songs that reveal their layered experiences and sense of humor. Like an edgier, more raw Azure Ray with moments of mysticality and sincerely sung heartbreak. Live performances are uniquely alluring and sensual. The kind of music that will get you through winter, it reminds us to gulp fearlessly and dive deep into experience with an open heart. - Manipulacion De Las Siete Hermanas

“Alison Clancy, wearing hot pink, kicks a leg, juts a hip forward and stretches her arms behind her back…What makes it confusing is that it’s hard to know whether she means to be awkward or lascivious.”

-GIA KOURLAS


- The New York Times

I’m working on an 80’s feature for Sunday. This one just couldn’t wait.

Ah, the tongue-in-cheekiness of a New Kids On The Block cover.

It’s tempting to dismiss this sort of project as less than serious: a cheesy boyband pop song; a band named after a peer pressure command; yet another arty, lo-fi video. But there’s something oddly earnest and genuine about the way Huff This! approaches a song I thought I never wanted to hear again.

The music hovers between performance art and studio craft: sweetly casual, slightly anti-punk indiefolk, a raw and tender cover well worth sharing. And Director Ben Berlin’s video is a satirical tour de force, slowing down the cheesiness until it takes on a kind of slo-mo grace, reflecting our hungry gaze back on ourselves through the use of underage and real-bodied dancers and oddly-framed beauties, framing it all in an indie director’s angsty rooftop lens.

Dancer-slash-band frontwoman Alison Clancy, who sent the track along, is clearly both serious about her art, and playful enough to take the risk. You should be, too.
- Cover Laydown

"We’re given our marching orders at the outset by... Alison Brigham Clancy, who throws her long legs around and twirls until her bright pink skirt flares out around her. Clancy, a vivid performer, gives us ample opportunity to test our skills—now and then alighting to pose, laugh, pout, and make us think she might unzip her dress."
-Deborah Jowitt

- The Village Voice