Porches, a New York based dance pop group performed at Horseshoe Tavern Monday, April 11^th with Your Friend and Alex G.

Your Friend played first, offering guitar and keyboard textures drenched in reverb while Taryn Miller’s voice sang indistinguishable words overtop. Miller was cursed by being the opening act, because while she and the band gave a solid performance, the crowd was distracted and gave very little in return. Alex G, on the other hand, received a ton of love. Blending a low-fi songwriting approach with a more traditional rock groove, G had the crowd shouting for more. His use of dissonance and unconventional song structure matched the emotional delivery of his lyrics – at times shouting, at times snarling. Porches’ Maya Laner joined Alex to close out his set in what may have been the happiest song of this set, and the highlight of the evening.

Porches began their show with some booty shaking. Aaron Maine stood with his back to the audience as a beat started up, shifting his hips in time with the bass drum, setting the tone for a very physical set. Porches is dance music for the “sway side to side at concerts” crowd, combining heavy use of synths, disco-era beats, and lonely lyrics. “I want to see everyone get freaky,” Maine declared, “it’s so hot, it’s so good. Feel free.” The crowd obliged.

This may be Maine’s project, but band deserves a lot of credit. The drums drive most of the songs, and the synth and guitar parts create the atmosphere for the emotional lyrics to really hit. Maya Laner does a killer job on bass, and also serves as a foil to Maine’s onstage persona – Maine is all serious stares while Laner gives the audience an over-exaggerated thumbs up. Porches offered a lot of variety into the set, spanning from straight ahead infectious dance music to idiosyncratic indie rock. The highlight of the set was without a doubt “Underwater,” which elicited shouts from the audience for its throbbing bass line.

Porches’ set was surprisingly short, only 50 minutes including encores, closing out with Maine playing the song “Xanny Bar” on his own. With everything else stripped away, it became obvious how strong Maine’s voice is, how in another world he could have been a singer-songwriter releasing music under his own name. He finished the song, and gave the audience a brief thumbs up before walking offstage.

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Produced in collaboration with Fred (a newcomer on the British scene), Four Tet, Adrian Sherwood and With You (a new team founded by Switch), Bleeds makes use of an intense soundscape that draws heavily on strings, piano, and voices in the mid and high registers, along with drums and synths in the lower frequencies. Smith said of this album, “limitation of language is the reason I feel the bleed of emotions and timbral motifs is the most essential part of the process,” and that’s reflected in the work that’s gone into each track.

Still, I can’t ignore the forefront of this music: Smith has been writing consistently strong verses for two decades, and on Bleeds it’s made obvious he’s not going to let up. The subject matter bends toward the personal, even when politics are at play (such as in “Hard Bastards”’ examination of the psychology of power), and the delivery is rich and musical as hell. Spirituality runs as a theme throughout the whole album, as well as an undercurrent of paranoia (made most clearly visible in “Crying”).

The only major misstep is the placement of “Stepping Hard” and “Me Up!” right next to each other. Both songs play at similar speeds in the same key, and after so much variation, it causes the album to lag momentarily before changing paces again for “One Thing.”

Album highlights: “Hard Bastards” is a great opener. The strings in the first bars are so beautiful, but when Smith comes in, his delivery can easily rival the lushness of the production. “Crying” shows off this album’s paranoid streak, and its samples of babies crying turn the sentiment into a visceral experience. “Don’t Breathe Out” is probably the closest to pop that this album strays, but blending the conviction of the verses with a cheery string sample adds up to a delicious groove.

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Opening with “New Romance,” what’s first established is the groove. The timbre of the drums is so sweet, and the thudding chords combine with them in a neo-soul rhythm that drives the song.  Everything on this album feels like it was played by old-school funk session players, even on tracks that feature mostly drum machines and programmed synth lines.

The lyrics on Raw are straightforward.  We’re in the realm of the heart, and the EP examines every stage of a relationship from its birth till death. Each song features one repeated line, which works here because honesty is not always complicated.  Sometimes our fears in a relationship are completely expressed by “Chronophobia”’s refrain “don’t let me waste my time.”

What stands out most is the second half of the EP.  In the instrumental break “Sketches, Pt 1” the  guitar, drums, and bass remind us that Azekel is a multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer, and the short track is well-placed in the album’s flow.  Following this is “Holy Matrimony (Extended Version),” Raw’s romantic high point, complete with guitar solo and a slow fade out, and then “Sold My Love.” “Sold my Love” is a poignantly sad note to end on, and makes the EP feel like a cycle that could start all over again at “New Romance” or be continued on an eventual part two.

Nothing that’s happening on Raw, Vol. 1 is groundbreaking; the jazz trumpet lines, the piano chords that replace electronic backing in a soulful chorus, and the vocal stylings have all been done before, but this EP just feels good, which is a pretty significant distinction.  It’s got a sense of the understated that allows whole songs to work by not making any one part too big.  There’s subtle sonic motifs, interesting instrumental work, and honest emotion. That feeling makes the difference between letting this EP play as background music and wanting to set up some speakers, grab your lover, and clear a space in your home to dance and get close.

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