We now come to the second half of our Dual Hawks post. Just to recap, Dual Hawks (a double LP!) is the latest album from both Centro-matic and South San Gabriel. As I discussed in the Centro-matic post, South San Gabriel is essentially the side project of Will Johnson, even though it features all the members of Centro-matic. The band was formed after Centro-matic released an album of quieter, more delicate songs titled South San Gabriel Music/Songs a good number of year back. While still clearly connected to Centro-matic, the band has taken on an entity of its own with separate releases (two other albums before Dual Hawks), separate tours, and a distinct South San Gabriel “sound.”

That “sound” ranges from soft soundscapes with heavenly strings, to drum machines and tape loops. And then almost everything in between. Dual Hawks isn’t quite as cohesive as the band’s last release, The Carlton Chronicles, a concept album about a cat (trust me, it works), but Johnson and Co., especially in their SSG form never cease to impress me with the uniqueness of the songs, and even just the different noises they can conjure up. For as many traditional instruments you can find on the album (drums, acoustic guitars), there are just as many or more that I can’t identify (probably because they’ve all been run through reality-altering effects).

“Trust To Lose” is not exactly the best representation of the album. It’s a bit more direct than the usual wandering and adventurous spirit of a SSG song, but it ventures into new areas for the band. Strings (or at least instruments that sound like strings) are paired with a distorted guitar that serves more to give the song a rugged texture than to drive it. Johnson’s voice is more exposed, though again, not as much as traditional SSG songs. My minor complaints aside, the song is an interesting one, different from anything I’ve heard from either of the two bands.

It also does a fine job of defining the often confusing boundary between Centro-matic and SSG; essentially, SSG songs are more like sonic compositions, whereas Centro-matic songs are your more “traditional” rockers. Of course, there are about a thousand exceptions to that generalization. Such is the nature of Will Johnson.

Get the track after the jump.

South San Gabriel - “Trust To Lose”

Also, just for comparison, check out “The Dark of Garage,” off The Carlton Chronicles. It’s probably one of my favorite songs on the album, proving that two notes is all it takes to write a fantastic piano line. Then of course, the song proves once again that no one, no one, can top the multi-part harmonies of South San Gabriel.

South San Gabriel - “The Dark of Garage” (from The Carlton Chronicles)

Dual Hawks is due on June 3, 2008 on Misra Records.

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