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Reviews

Audra — Going to the Theatre
(Projekt 131, 2002, CD)

by Jeff Melton, Published 2003-12-01

Going to the Theatre Cover art

Audra is the stylishly gothic venture of brothers Bret and Bart Helm who originally hailed from Chicago. Going to the Theatre is the trio’s second CD after three West Coast tours and a few independent cassettes self-released in the early 90s. Across ten tracks the duo put across their droll and often times self-deprecating attitude on tracks such as “There Are No Snakes in Heaven.” At times the vocal line evokes that The Doors’ Jim Morrison, Lou Reed, or even Peter Murphy’s clever delivery (without all the angst). The title track carries much of Morrison’s trademark swooning with acoustic guitar backing and obvious philandering overtones. Also I find a few elements of The Cure’s brash brand of twisted rock and roll that traces back to Bowie’s Aladdin Sane era. Lyrically the context of most of the tracks runs a fine line between fantasy and cult scene that has co-existed in pockets for the past twenty years or so. “Face Go Red” is a ballad bemoaning the plight of an ambiguous event where “they can’t hear anything upstairs.” “Fearless Peaches” is a NIN trendy vignette that plods along denoting a biographical story of a lost soul. Closing out the disc is “Don’t End This Time,” which is possibly the most intimate moment on the album. Overall it’s pretty standard fare for the duo who exist nicely within their cult following and not much more.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 28, 2002 releases

Related artist(s): Audra

More info
http://audra.bandcamp.com/album/going-to-the-theatre

 

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