Pop Reviews : Lorry: Broody Brits That Are Hard to Dismiss

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry has no truck with levity.

Still, the British band’s show on Wednesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano (they also play Helter Skelter in Hollywood tonight) was a cut above much of what has come out of the sorrow-and-gloom school of post-punk Anglo rock. When broody Brit bands like the Mission U.K. come over and start acting like so many baleful Young Werthers, the first reaction is to wish they’d quit the posing, buy some Chuck Berry records and lighten up.

It was harder to dismiss the haggard-looking lead Lorry, Chris Reed. At his best, Reed’s deep, harsh voice fairly seethed with existential anger, set against the quartet’s rumbling march rhythms and a wash of guitar distortion and feedback that occasionally recalled the Velvet Underground and the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Lorrys’ 55-minute set did include a few numbers intended to introduce a degree of optimism. “The Rise” had an assured rhythmic surge and lyrics in praise of individualism and independence, and the slow and stately “Shine a Light” offered a prayerful reach in its refrain. But Reed’s voice always remained low and clenched, precluding any convincing sense of uplift. Velocity, rather than emotional tone, was the main source of variation in a monolithic, but intense set.