The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres self-titled
Should Friday come and for some reason you find yourself wanting to order a round of appetizers, look no further than this self-titled release from The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres. This acoustic trio out of Chicagoland is the latest project of singer-songwriter Andrew Robert Palmer, who is joined by Shelly Baldridge on the violin and Charlie Ford on the stand-up bass. They have been performing for about two years as The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres. And this three-song, seven-inch record is the perfect bite.
Right away, as the band fires into “Mr. Uber Driver,” they revel in a joy that reckons with but remains ultimately unconstrained by expectation. “Tell the babysitter we gotta go. I got my paycheck, and it’s burning a hole in my pocket,” Palmer pleads over an early rock and roll groove, telling the story of a couple leaving the suburbs, going into the city for a much-needed date, and returning home.
Ford and Baldridge’s strings frame Palmer’s driving spirit in an old-time feel. And it’s infectious. When the chorus hits and Palmer calls out, “Downtown. Downtown, Mr. Uber Driver. I think we’re ready to go,” they cloak a thoroughly contemporary lyric in old-school sonic dressing. It’s a jarring contrast.
And it persists into “The Ballad of Hannah from I.T.” If the perennial question of “Mr. Uber Driver” is keeping sparks lit, in the second track, it’s vocational dreaming. This is a story about a born-to-be artist who reads the classics and plays with cameras but feels pressure to find gainful employment as an I.T. programmer instead. Who doesn’t know this struggle?
Against the classic sounds of acoustic instruments, this lyrical reference to the present day seems destined to datedness. I.T. programming wasn’t a soul-crushing job sixty years ago. Will it still be in 2056?
But the Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres don’t seem to care. They have a more important thing to say to Hannah and listeners alike: “Don’t let this mean old world have you. Go on and do whatever grabs you. Go on and do what brings you joy.” It’s one of the great impulses of this record. The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres have delivered a tray of totally un-self-conscious songs about life as they know it.
The title of the third and final song expresses the sentiment perfectly. “Impatient Jubilation” assembles a catalog of causes for such feeling. It includes summer vacation and Christmas morning. What matters is not the originality of each item but the posture claimed before the second chorus—”I’m gonna let go of my expectations, make new calculations, new math.”
This commitment to a new logic of playfulness permeates all three of these songs. It’s on full display in the second track, as “have you” and “manners” are made to almost rhyme with Hannah. Or as confessed in this gem, “Hannah, this little slice of Americana might be a little bit Pollyanna. Oh, but I guess it’s just who I am-a.” Lines like these might count as strikes against a record aiming toward perfection, but I get the sense that The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres are searching for something else entirely.
In a world that pushes too often for silence, music is a celebration. And on their first release, The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres have given listeners just that. So at the end of a long week, let your spirit be lifted. Go and listen to The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres.
Their self-titled, debut single arrives on May 16 from Palmer’s own Andy! Records. Make sure to grab your copy here starting on Friday the 16th.
The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres is Andrew Robert Palmer on vocals and guitar, Shelly Baldridge on vocals and violin, and Charlie Ford on upright bass. Their debut release was produced by Barrett Guzaldo and recorded at Treehouse Records in Chicago, Illinois.