The nomenclature of post-punk styles has become hopelessly entangled within itself---especially the bugaboo term “emo”--- but dollar signs are easier to understand, and groups like Jimmy Eat World, Saves the Day and Dashboard Confessional have made substantial commercial inroads recently. Modeled on the approach of these groups (and sharing a label, Vagrant Records, with the latter two), Milwaukee quartet Hey Mercedes performance at the 930 Club Wednesday night was a delineation of what is good and bad about the accessible post-punk approach.
On the positive side, the group understands how loud guitars should be applied to songs of emotional friction ---three quarters of Hey Mercedes played together in Braid, who fashioned a similarly aggressive sound--- and played with convincing energy. Too often, however, songs like “Every Turn” and “Que Shiraz” got lost in the post-punk middle-of-the-road: lacking brevity, hinged on guitars that made soft corners instead of right angles and hindered by singer Robert Nanna’s quavering voice, which lacked punch. Frustratingly, the group was capable of turning around a snapping off something like “Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday”, which crackled under a jagged guitar figure and rush of palpable vocals. That refreshing outburst was unfortunately in short supply during the hour-long show, leaving Hey Mercedes mired in an indifferent place where expression of emotions slid into going through the motions.
Washington Post, 2002
