Chris Colbourn and Hilken Mancini are playing the first show of a 7-date European run tonight in support of their debut CD. Their longtime pal Juliana Hatfield is headlining for them on all the shows. The UK’s fabulous MOJO magazine has reviewed their disc in their April issue:
A puzzling sticker on the sleeve proclaims this Mancini and Colbourn’s “solo debut”, but this is definitely a group outing. Colbourn’s songs with Buffalo Tom offered relief from front-man Bill Janovitz’s anguished howl, more wistful and whimsical, always the sensitive, broken-hearted Catholic boy. Meanwhile Mancini’s folksy squalls impress greatly, with a hazy, Belly-styled charm, and when they share vocals, like the raucous “In My Arms,” they hit an addictive harmony. The likes of Colbourn’s keening, piano-led “Moonbeams” catch these college rock luminaries easing into a wistful, post-grad era, anything but ‘hip’ but retaining their gift for emotive, sucker punch indie-rock that only gathers more dignity with age. And the smoking guitar solos a visiting J Mascis taped for the opening and closing tracks are almost worth admission alone.
On Friday March 3rd, Hilken and Chris as well as Juliana will be performing live on the radio from Desmet Studios in Amsterdam. They are expected to play a total of 5 songs on a show that begins at 14:00 Netherlands time…the zone conversion would be 8:00 am EST, so remember to tune in early to 747 Live!
Also available as of today is an interview (with plenty of accompanying music) with Hilken Mancini, conducted by Charlie McEnerney, for Well-Rounded Radio. You can find interviews on the site with other Kimchee artists including Willard Grant Conspiracy and Blake Hazard.
Hilken and Chris will be back in Cambridge, MA to play a really special date at T.T. the Bear’s on March 14th with The (inestimable) Bats from New Zealand.