Based in Lafayette, Indiana, heavy rock outfit The Heavy Company made their debut in the form of the 2011 EP, The Heavy (Please Tune In…). It was a release that, despite raw self-production, had a number of things working in its favor — most notably a prevailing lack of pretense and natural sensibility. When it comes to hearing the follow-up first full-length, Midwest Electric, the discovery that those elements have carried over from the EP (review here) comes with some measure of relief, since it’s precisely this modest ethic that stands The Heavy Co. out from the bulk of their peers. If anything, it’s amplified on the seven-tracks of Midwest Electric, which is out on a limited CD run through the band’s own DPR Records in hopes of financing a vinyl pressing, and the album nestles itself easily into an overarching groove while maintaining sonic and structural diversity between its individual pieces. The band, down to the duo of guitarist/vocalist/bassist Ian Gerber and drummer/vocalist/guitarist Jeff Kaleth from their original trio incarnation — bassist Scott Gilkey plays on the first half of the album — elicit a strikingly organic, jammed sensibility, resulting in a full-album flow that’s unmistakably aware of European heavy psychedelia but hardly at all reaching for it sonically, instead weaving into and around American-style riff rock with understated finesse, here a Clutch groove, there an organ-laced tribute to Neil Young that sounds more like Mark Lanegan, at least in terms of the vocals. The Heavy Co. remain underproduced, but what’s encouraging about that in terms of the manageable 37-minute stretch of Midwest Electric is they turn that roughness into a part of their aesthetic, so that the opening push of “The Humboldt County Waltz” comes across with a garage sensibility, like a less urban The Brought Low underscored by a steady rumble of stoner-rocking low end, indicative perhaps of some of the sonic shifts to come as the songs play out. They never quite touch on Americana, and they never quite touch on retro ’70s rock, but there are pieces of both brought into the melting-pot-stew of their sound.

That’s evidenced on “The Humboldt County Waltz” well enough, but more so on the subsequent “A Groove a Mile Wide,” which is longer and more psychedelic thanks in part to a guest solo by Michael Rafalowich of Brooklyn’s Strange Haze. A cut in the tempo gives Kaleth‘s drums some sense of bounce, and the vocals seem content to ride the laid back groove through the verses, making room for ascending and descending guitar runs in between. There’s an undercurrent of psychedelic noise and effects that’s subtle, but there all the same, and it rises to prominence just before two minutes in when Rafalowich‘s solo takes hold. Gerber joins and the two guitars hold something like a mini-freakout, departing as quickly as they game as watery vocals return over more present low end and backwards cymbal washes. They cap “A Groove a Mile Wide” by delivering the title line and then seeking to embody it, and but for some of the tastier riffs to come on “Greasy Mush” and “One Big Drag,” I’d be inclined to say they got there, but the instrumental ending of “A Groove a Mile Wide” serves its purpose well nonetheless, and by the time the moodier “Neil Young” arrives, it has become abundantly clear that The Heavy Co. are working with a much wider sonic breadth this time around than on The Heavy (Please Tune In…). Quiet guitars strum out cleanly amid rising and falling organ swells and smoky vocals — could be Kaleth taking the fore from Gerber, I don’t know, but the style is different enough to make me think it’s someone else — and though distortion never feels far off, by the time it arrives, the band has successfully widened their scope and given a lonelier vibe to more accomplished songwriting. Lead notes echo out behind “Neil Young”‘s final moments, and the song ends with guitar and organ in quick succession, which does little to setup the shift into the fervently stonerized groove of “Greasy Mush,” but obviously recognizes that the latter is so immersive it doesn’t matter anyway. A riff easily mouthed along with, “Greasy Mush” makes the most of its central figure, stretching upwards of six minutes and peppering an open-sounding instrumental chorus with some of Midwest Electric‘s best bass work — the “voom”s in the would-be verses are a nice touch as well, as the band themselves say when the jam has ended. Before they get there, the guitars lead the way down an extended heavy psych jam that keeps its soothing sensibility even as it moves further away from the song’s initial idea, which is brought back at the end to excellently bookend the proceedings.

Side B, as it were, is comprised of two more extended tracks — “One Big Drag” (7:16) and “Sailing Towards the Setting Sun” (6:23) — and one shorter one — “El Bango Grande” (3:52) — that further expand The Heavy Co.‘s reach. The recording circumstances were different, as but for the drums, all of the instruments for “Sailing Towards the Setting Sun” were put to tape at DPR Studios. The drums were done at Crunchtone in Indianapolis, as were the whole of “One Big Drag” and “El Bango Grande.” It makes a difference in the band’s sound, but the aesthetic shifts with the recording quality, and though “One Big Drag” is largely straightforward in its structure, answering “Greasy Mush” with further riffy righteousness, the layering in the guitar and further use of vocal echoes speaks to the psychedelic explorations to come. The key difference between “One Big Drag” and “Sailing Towards the Setting Sun” is that the former has that riff at its base, where the latter — beginning with a “this is your captain speaking”-esque disclaimer that “Your existence is futile” — is more lysergic from the start, backwards guitar lines reminding of Brant Bjork‘s Jalamanta while the drums take a break to let the rippling swirl expand as it will. More than the first three minutes are dedicated to this setup, and the guitars subside for echoing vocals that enact a backwards cymbal wash accompanied for a time only by bass until the guitar gradually returns in fuller distorted tone to lead the way through the last minute and a half. It’s an atmospheric piece, but it has an arrival, and drums even arrive in the last minute to march out the ending progression, which rumbles to a close in order to give way to the misleading wah that begins “El Bango Grande.” Misleading because it makes the listener think The Heavy Co. are going to end by continuing their outward movement, but they don’t. “El Bango Grande” cuts quickly to bass drum stomp and plays its course by melding a classic rock shuffle with a catchy chorus hook. The next twist arrives when they transition to an instrumental midsection of drones and psychedelic ambience, but they pull it back to finish out with a slowed-down resurgence of the chorus, topped with effective gang vocals and well-paced grooving. A final blending of the varied sides of their sound bodes well, but most impressive about Midwest Electric is the fluid manner in which one song leads to the next, so that even as they jump from straightforward rock to space-brained psych, there’s nothing jarring about their transitions, and The Heavy Co. manage to bring their audience along for what turns out to be a surprisingly multifaceted trip. It might take a few listens before the whole range reveals itself, but Midwest Electric ultimately proves more than worth the investment in time and volume.

The Heavy Co., Midwest Electric (2013)

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Tags: DPR Records, Indiana, Lafayette, Midwest Electric, The Heavy Co., The Heavy Co. Midwest Electric

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