I don’t know how Brent and Chris Antal would feel about this comparison, but it occurred to me recently that GreenhornBluehorn has made a case for itself over the past couple years as the Simon and Garfunkel of our little musical universe – if Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were brothers, were both gifted songwriters and instrumentalists, and were total sweethearts. So, okay, not at all like Simon and Garfunkel, except for the fact that they sing beautiful, deceptively simple songs with lyrical heft – songs that actually say something – and they sing them wonderfully, obviously having spent way more than 10,000 hours playing their voices off each other over the years.
“The Noise” is the latest entry in their oeuvre, and fans of the Antals’ work won’t be disappointed. The song is relatively understated and laid back – and the lyrics seem to be making a case for everyone to chill the fuck out just a bit – but every element, from composition to performance to production, fits just so. The result is not inhuman, glossy perfection, but the lovingly crafted work of a couple of gifted, hard-working musical artisans. As far as I know, the only tracks they’ve released since their debut EP have been through Ball of Wax; here’s hoping they’re gradually adding up to a full-length to be unleashed upon us sooner rather than later.