Divine Fits Unchains A Double-Sided

Most people know that the formation of the Divine Fits can be traced back to Britt Daniel (Spoon) attending a Handsome Furs show and approaching Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) just to tell Boeckner he had one of the best rock voices he'd ever heard. 

Then Boeckner told Daniel that he used to order Spoon singles through the mail back in high school. More than that, Spoon had convinced Boeckner to give up on the Metallica cover band of his youth and set out on a path that would eventually lead to Wolf Parade. 

The exchange was enough for them to keep in touch, which turned out to be a good thing. The Handsome Furs was about to end; a thing called the Divine Fits was about to begin.

Chained To Love keeps the Divine Fits fresh. 

Almost nobody gave much attention to the double-sided single when it was first released, but then the co-frontmen turned up on Conan to cram the two songs into a four-minute melody that still has people nodding in agreement. The Divine Fits are more than a super group with Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks) and Alex Fischel. They are super performers, who can swap guitars mid-show and give their live performances life on sheer charisma alone.

The two singles are slated to appear on a brand new 12" that will be released this summer, but the singles are good enough that waiting for the album release seems pointless. Here's an upload of the television performance as a preview of things to come.

Conan wasn't the only place that the Divine Fits was making an impression. On June 17, the band set out to lay down a live record at Third Man Records in Nashville. To make it right, they wanted a live audience to give them additional energy. For $10, anybody could join them.

Thy also recorded a crazy outtake of four songs over at Daytrotter a few weeks ago. It's not something most people know about beyond hardcore fans. One track in particular, Neopolitans, is an especially nervy song that pulls you as taut as the uneasy music. Check it out after the double-sided singles. 

The singles themselves are everything you might imagine from Divine Fits. Chained To Love has an indie pop song feel with Boeckner delivering terse vocals against tight playing that will immediately remind anyone of a throwback beat several decades ago, with a strong bass line contrasting with the vocals.

If one thing sounds different from their debut it's that the band is clearly not content unless it's experimenting. The song doesn't have the same meat and grit that Shivers or some of the other picks off A Thing Called The Divine Fits, but it doesn't necessarily have to be cool. 

Ain't That The Way isn't that different either, with Daniel taking over the vocals and delivering a little Spoon to the overall sound. It's mostly more polished like Chained To Love, except with a much more roots rock underbelly driving the verse. 

 Some people might point out that parts of both songs feel like vintage Spoon or Wolf Parade. But that is part of the magic in the exchange that Daniel and Boeckner have been working out. Boeckner in particular has said that he likes revisiting sound and image-driven phrases, hoping to perfect them with every pass. I can only assume that Daniel is on board with this thinking, working to evolve favorites.

Chained To Love Unchains 7.1 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

Listening to the singles really shows some progression as a group, especially in that Fischel doesn't distract but rather brings his talent to the table. If anything, in comparing the album to what might be coming up next, Divine Fits has found a sound worth the snapshot, leaning more pop rock and not so much electronic while celebrating the successes of their co-frontmen.

Chained To Love/Ain't That The Way are available for download on iTunes. You can also find the two singles on Amazon. Both tracks are expected to make the album. For show information, check the band  out on Facebook. The band is busy, with Daniel being even busier with both Spoon and the start of another band soon.

Divine Fits Is A Powerhouse Plus One

Nobody ever knows what they might get out of the supergroup, not even Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs), and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks). They even think the "supergroup" concept is a bad idea, but they wanted to try it out anyway. So they went ahead and did it.

Last November, the three met at LA Rehearsal & Recording in West Hollywood, not far from Highway 101. They loaded in some guitars and a single synth player for what became their first practice. Nine months and a few days later, Divine Fits has a name, label, and an album with a few tracks that will land on playlists for a very, very long time.

Divine Fits is exactly what it sounds like.

With the anti-climactic end of the Handsome Furs three months ago, it was good to hear Boeckner was already working on another project a few weeks later. But that doesn't mean all the songs sound like him. Some sound like Daniel too. Some sound like a collaboration that will create the foundation for Divine Fits. All have influences from one another, giving the band its own kind of indie rock recipe.

It kind of comes with the territory given the band started something just for the fun of playing together. Their first song written and wrapped, by all accounts, was What Gets You Alone (which Daniel had originally written on his own). It's one of the most electrifying and driving bits of music on the debut. It's also the song that enticed Brown into the band, hearing it with nothing but a drum machine.

It would have made a sensational introduction, but the Divine Fits chose a memorable, mellow and melodic number. My Love Is Real is impeccably smooth and contemplative from beginning to end, an externalized synth and percussion thump of an internalized thought.

It plays rougher live, much like the coustic lightness and tension of Flaggin' A Ride. Flaggin' A Ride is the song they are most likely to open with on the road. Its heavy bass and percussion are much more likely to get the blood pumping. There is a build to it that lets you know something will happen.

Would That Not Be Nice kicks and keeps up the pace, while maintaining that minimalist structure that both Boeckner and Daniel gravitate toward. You can feel everything, right down to each shake of the maracas. Here's the dirtier version as captured by freelance videographer Ryan Fitzpatrick.



The fourth member of the band seen in the video is Alex Fischel (Papa), who signed on to support the band on keys. You definitely want to see them live. While the debut was expertly produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave; Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs), there is something infectious about their less polished stage presence.

Another must listen track is Baby Gets Worse. It's brooding and urgent, brimming over with heartbreak and confidence. The guitar and bass work kicks up a notch to finish up the song with the words lingering in your head.

Civilian Stripes almost doesn't fit in neatly with the rest of the album, but be glad it's there. It's the closest composition on the album that qualifies as straight up bittersweet rock. It fits perfectly alongside the simple and always impactful Shivers. It's something to savor on this album, stronger than the original while paying tribute to the man who wrote it.

In case you don't know, it was originally written by the late Rowland Stuart Howard (The Birthday Party) when he was 16 and performing with a long forgotten band called The Young Charlatans. As Howard grew older, he felt like he was covering a song written by another person and sometimes called it an albatross. Nick Cave also covered the song with Boys Next Door (as have others), which is why some people attribute it to Cave.

A Thing Called The Divine Fits Throws Up 6.3 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Divine Fits sometimes leans on the synth more than they need to, which isn't a slight against the talented Fischel in the least. It's just my take that electronic experiments aren't always as strong as any given song's foundation. (I couldn't imagine other songs without it, though). And yet, Divine Fits still throws me, especially the songs highlighted.

You can pick up A Thing Called Divine Fits on Amazon. You can also download a specially mastered version of the album from iTunes. Barnes & Noble carries the CD and vinyl. They have a handful of shows slated, which you can catch on Facebook. I already saw them once. I will again too.