Show review of Mission Hill

From L to R.  Takuma Anzai  (drums), Alex Knutsen (guitar), Adam Jensen (vocals, guitar, piano), and Zach Jagentenfl (bass).  Photo by Steve O'Keefe.

This past Friday night I caught the show of Boston alternative indie rock band, Mission Hill. 

Since the four-piece group is currently recording their freshman album, which is not yet ready for purchase, there wasn’t much to listen to ahead of time. Needless to say, when I arrived at World Café Live I didn’t have a lot to go on in terms of what to expect.   

But as they first took the stage, the initial observation that anyone with a pair of working eyes would make about these guys is that all four of them are devilishly handsome.  With his ruffled hair and boyish face, the playful lead singer Adam Jensen would have no trouble winning over crowds of adoring teenagers.  But contrasting to his youthful appeal, and with the help of his Boston accent, Adam also carries himself with a self-assured bravado.  The blend of bad boy meets sensitive musician is a lethal lady-killing mixture.  Just ask John Mayer. 
 
So, if I were to go on looks alone, then upon first sight I would say Mission Hill could be mistaken for a boy band.  And although I’m sure they would love the attention, this band’s music proves to be much more widely accessible than to a primary target of screaming teenage girls. 

And besides, about five minutes into the set, in his mischievous and carefree way
Adam made a well-received joke about wanting to smoke a blunt.  I don't think bringing up such a topic to a Jonas Brothers’ audience would go over all that great.

The first two songs of the set were high-energy and guitar-driven, not all that dissimilar in overall vibe and sound to a powerpop group like Cartel or The All-American Rejects.  The majority of the night consisted of such songs, one of the highlights being “You’re Lying Again.”  With its sharp lyrics and smart insight into a relationship involving a duplicitous partner, Adam sings about the honest half being able to know when the dishonest half is lying merely by looking at that person’s face.  Fittingly, Adam refers to this revealing facade as the “lying face.”

Speaking of lying, one might think Adam was doing just that when he mentioned that the bassist (Zach Jagentenfl) and the drummer (Takuma Anzai) joined the band only a couple of weeks ago.  Adam and the lead guitarist Alex Knutsen have been performing together for two years.  But when taking into account the entirety of the brand new four-piece unit, the overall playing was consistent and tight. 

Adam is a strong vocalist, but sometimes his skill was slightly eclipsed amongst the fast-paced vigor of the upbeat songs.  (Or, of the “little dancy numbers,” as referred to by Adam.)  Adam is also a multi-instrumentalist, but most of the night he stuck with guitar, only switching it up with the keyboard for three songs.  It wasn't until he played the keys and slowed things down a bit that Adam revealed the full breadth of both his vocal ability and his emotional vulnerability.  

The icing on the vulnerable cake was when Mission Hill performed the ballad “Save Me From Me,” which is the band’s first single, and which is the only full-length song currently listed on their MySpace site.  This song is a masterpiece of emotionally moving mid-tempo piano rock that could easily chip away at The Fray’s stronghold in this genre.

But what sets Mission Hill apart from other groups is that whether they play up their boyish charm, rock out with their hyper powerpop energy, or melt hearts with their lyrical sensitivity, the band weaves these three distinctive threads together in such a way that the final product is uniquely cohesive and far-reaching.