Proxy Set
Proxy Set EP
Independent, 2007
By Sal Hassanpour
Proxy Set are the hardest working band in the Greater Toronto Area. To date, they have played a hundred gigs (ninety or so of those in the last three years alone), and yet, this is their third EP.
Now, some of you might see an unequal ratio between live performances and recorded material and might start making assumptions, but mistake them not for a jam band. Sure, there are impeccable solos, especially on “Lucky Machete” and “Bad Smoke,” but each song here is impeccably written, with singer Melon Miles’ voice pitched perfectly in between Eric Burdon (of The Animals)’s blues howl and Jim Morrison’s drugged croon. In fact, if the five tracks here are any indication, Proxy Set are more than due their full-length.
So while opener “Driver’s Seat” is the closest thing to a pop hit single here, complete with an amazing white-hot guitar solo, the thrash-metal dirge at the start of — and throughout — subsequent track “Punch The Motor Wild” will make sure you don’t forget that Proxy Set can rock as hard as a mountain. That’s not to say that the band hasn’t evolved over the years — the atmospheric psych-blues of “Lucky Machete,” with its time-signature shifts, is a jaw-dropping display of the band’s musical experience as well as the song-writing chops you acquire a hundred gigs later. Next up, “Bad Smoke” rains down on you like a raging tempest pouring boiling-hot water before everything slows down, just to bring it back up again, with intense, pummelling drum-work and later, some old-school metal twin-V guitar action. Finally, the echo-FX guitar drifting through the beginning of last track “Dark Heaven” is a clue that this is the 70’s rock-inspired chill-out track. It’s also the best showcase of Miles’ vocal range – in fact, if I have any complaint with the EP at all, it’s that sometimes Miles’ voice is buried in the mix.
That one quibble aside, this is a strong twenty-five minutes with not one second of flab by a group of seasoned musicians at the top of their game — at least, until the (fingers crossed) full-length will school us once more.
The latest Proxy Set EP is available for purchase from the internet, from the band at their shows, and from their website.
