Group: House of Rabbits
Album: Songs of Charivari
I honestly have no recollection of how I first heard of this band, but I do remember the description of “vaudcore” grabbing my interest. Vaudcore is a term coined by the band House of Rabbits to describe their music; a mashup of vaudeville and hardcore. And it is quite an apt description. It's a little as if the Dead Kennedys wrote their own Three Penny Opera (minus the overt politics).
It seems that House of Rabbits was originally known for a theatrical stage show in L.A. based on this music, and the songs are certainly theatrical, dramatic and narrative. The lyrics treat on the dark impulses of desire, passion, frustration and retribution, with song titles such as By the Neck, Grandfather Cock, Madame Orifices, Trophy Widow and She Drinks from the Golden Fountain. Not exactly for the faint of heart.
The lead singer, Jess Gabriell Cron, performs in a baritone that straddles the line between seriously operatic and the campy tongue-in-cheek of The B-52s' Fred Schneider. At one point his voice rises into something like screamo. Many songs offer an interplay of two lead singers and a chorus, which also lends a truly theatrical quality.
The instrumentation is mostly acoustic, with piano often prominent, plus electric guitar and electronic keyboard. There are moments the music put me in mind of 80s-era Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. The songs move through a variety of styles and moods, often dark, sometimes comic, and all tied together by the signature vaudcore sensibility.
House of Rabbits is a band that can claim a style that is truly unique, enjoyable and even endearing. Their album Songs of Charivari really should be listened to and I highly recommend it…perhaps with an ounce of caution.
Because the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear. And it shows them pearly white.
House of Rabbits on Apple Music
Written by Brian Tibbs