Iron Hero, a rhythmic Athens dream-pop six piece (two drummers!) self-released its debut album, Safe As Houses, on July 25, 2006. Engineered by Andy Baker (The Glands, Jucifer) and produced by Josh McKay of Macha fame, Iron Hero’s debut is a winner, an icy, atmospheric treat with head-bobbing backbeat.
Iron Hero seems brave enough. Seeing as each member of the Athens, GA band was born in the early 1980’s, they have been forced to confront a period of rapid technological development.

That the band hails from small to midsize Georgia towns is irrelevant; the boys have seen the size of cell phones shrink alongside the rest of the world, and they were well aware that there is no sense in hiding from the change. Becoming drunk on new and old music as fast as the Internet could transmit bios and sound samples to their homes, they took advantage of easy access to every note within their electronic grasp. Iron Hero is informed by disparate sounds and notions: reggae, Americana, new-wave, rock classicists, and any sub genre before which one could attach or remove the word “post-“. So where would that leave their music? It’s decidedly not what you have decided to be southern rock. No, because their perception of the South isn’t covered in mud and blues scales. Though fiercely cold, Iron Hero’s rock music is draped in severed live wires; it is a pessimist’s convincing prediction that efficiency will soon replace intimacy. As a result, there will be few readily available references from the Dixon side of the line…

That is unless you consider the way they approach the process of creation. Iron Hero delivers detached beauty with an innate earnestness. They aren’t trying to make this music just in time for anything. Each member [Lawson Grice – guitar, keys; Sam Gunn – vocals, guitar, keys; Nick Hasty – drums, bells; Ben Simpson – bass; Jimmy Taylor – guitar, vocals, keys; Thomas Wilcox – drums] seems genuinely in awe of what they conjure collectively. Clearly there is no motive for this band of music aficionados, as they create in spite of their doubts and each other. After all, their first show was scheduled before they had ever rehearsed.

To reign in their schitzo influences and maximalist tendencies, they brought in Josh Mckay (of Macha) to discipline their widescreen compositions; he made sure the sounds danced together in brilliant disharmony. Andy Baker (of The Glands), who has worked with Maserati, The Mercury Program, and Elf Power, committed it all to tape and hard drive. The sessions were long and brutal, and seemingly trivial background noise was given the same discerning ear as lead guitar lines. The whole mess was mastered by Glenn Schick, who has glossed recordings by, among others, Of Montreal and Now It’s Overhead.

Safe As Houses is the result of these intense sessions; it’s a dark, paranoid record that beats with an unknowing, humble heart.