Review: Private Dancer, Alive In High Five
Private Dancer has one simple mission: to rock out. And that hasn’t changed now that the band is on album number two. The Minneapolis quintet knocked out a charmingly ragged, boisterous mix of garage-rock and psychedelia on its 2008 debut, Trouble Eyes, and its new follow-up, Alive In High Five, follows the template so closely it may as well have been titled Trouble Eyes Part II. Party anthems, monster riffs, and belt-em-out choruses are still the order of the day, and theres even a literal sequel in space-rocker 2,000 Year Wave, following Troubles surf-inflected instrumental 1,000 Year Wave.
But who needs change? Private Dancers appealparticularly live, where it can be electrifyingis all about angst-free, uncomplicated enthusiasm for music, and it doesnt need fixing. All five Dancers have extensive experience in other Twin Cities bandsthree members of STNNNG, ex-Hockey Night drummer Alex Achen, and Vampire Hands Chris Roseand the band benefits not only from their veteran chops, but the fact that as something of a side project, theres no pressure to do anything but have fun.
Thats not to say the musical interplay here isnt rich and complex; Alive is bursting with catchy nuggets of sound, and stands up well to repeat listens. Sometimes the rough edges could use a little more smoothing: Love song Diane, which shares a title with one of Grant Harts HüDüclassics, could also have benefited from a more sweetly sung, Hart-like vocal than the rough yelp Achen gives it. But thats a minor quibble. Private Dancers best on the straight-up anthems like Bajama Beach, which sounds like some forgotten gem by The Falls Mark E. Smith, and the raucous Weekend, which boils down the bands ethic of jubilant celebration over how great it is to play in bars on a Saturday night: My friends, we work all weekend! Its a dirty job, but someones gotta do it.
Originally published on avclub.com July 16, 2010. Read the complete article.
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