Horrible Band Name, Great Band

The Human Flight Committee takes familiar influences and molds them into something truly unique on their latest offering, the impressive Oh, When The Animals Unionize. Try and stick with me here – see, I could tell you that this band cites At the Drive-in, The Blood Brothers, The Mars Volta, Botch, and Minus the Bear as influences and you could easily come up with a general idea of what they sound like. You’d be wrong, though. There’s just something fresh about Aaron Shelton’s vocal swagger, Chris Alfieri’s percussive approach to melody, the rhythm section of Garrett Henderson and Christopher Shelton’s ability to keep everything moving forward that altogether feels so new, yet still so comfortable and familiar.

“The Last Song Anyone is Ever Going to Hear” starts with Shelton proselytizing over Botch-like leads, builds into a cathartic disco meltdown and, just when you think the song can’t get any better, in come the gang vocals. That’s everything I need in a great song these days (a Botch reference, disco beats, and gang vocals). “Tint and Quarantine” further establishes Shelton as a force to be reckoned with, a quick-witted and sharp-tongued lyricist who recalls the likes of Jordan Buckley (Every Time I Die) and Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw).

“Russian? We’re Barely Moving” is for folks looking for a true sense of panic in their disco. “The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is a Punch in the Mouth” lags but “The Five Second Saga” picks up the hyperactive, These Arms Are Snakes vibe before boredom ensues. Even at their simplest (“You’ll Get in When You’re Older”) The Human Flight Committee sound better than most of their better known peers. “Wolves in Cheap Clothing” is a mouthful at 7 minutes, but its bold sense of adventurism, its self-indulgent and cocky self-assuredness, is The Human Flight Committee in a nutshell.



Rarely does a band show so much promise and potential, but The Human Flight Committee show plenty of both on Oh, When the Animals Unionize. With familiar influences, THFC produce a batch of songs that are all over the map, yet manage not to leave the listener lost.

mp3: Russian! We're Barely Moving