Sunday Music Spotlight - The Burning Hell

Before listening to the latest album from The Burning Hell here’s what I knew about the band: they sometimes feature an electric ukulele. That was really all the motivation I needed to give them a shot.

I only needed that one fact, but it turns out there’s a lot that’s interesting about The Burning Hell. “They” are really a “he” and a group of rotating others. “He” is Matias Kom, a ukuleleist, songwriter, and occasional history teacher from Peterborough, Ont. “They” are whatever friends he can get to join him on any given night. “They” play instruments ranging from guitar and piano to banjolele and omnichord. Collectively they play music that’s difficult to categorize.

Their second album, Happy Birthday, is out now on (weewerk) Records. They describe it thusly:

The latest Burning Hell album, ‘Happy Birthday’, celebrates the beauty of age, the joys of decay, the possibility of dating after death, and the inevitable repetition of mistakes. Combining happy little melodies and depressing Old World fatalism, the music of The Burning Hell is sure to make you smile and want to give up.

Well that’s awfully ambitious. Why don’t you just listen and figure out for yourself whether it lives up to that ambition?

The Burning Hell - The Second Cigarette

Kom’s deep gravely voice is the star of this song, evoking thoughts of Jonathan Richman. Tell me you can’t imagine this song in There’s Something About Mary. Ultimately this is a lament about diminishing returns, as the second cigarette will never be as good as the first.

The Burning Hell - Everything You Believe Is A Lie

Hmm. What IF everything I believe is a lie? Then my belief that this song sounds like Marseilles Figs is wrong. As is my belief that, despite being a slow ballad, this is a fun song.

Videos
“Grave Situation, pt. 1″ live

Covering Bowie’s “China Girl”

Links
Buy Happy Birthday
Official Site
MySpace