Welsh Rabbit

Portland, OR

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About

"Following a couple of power-pop EPs, Welsh Rabbit has released a full-length, the first-rate Don Quixote vs. Sancho Panza, with co-frontmen Nick Levine and Kyle Chilla taking equal, distinctive shares. (The title alludes to the dueling songwriters, but as far as who is which, the band's not saying.) Quixote launches with a motorik hum before embarking on a wide-spanning survey of Brit-rock, bouncing assuredly from Kinkdom to Bowieglam to Smiths romanticism. It's the fruit of over two years' worth of assembled recordings done with Think Airbag's Sean Bartley at his Powell House Studios."

NED LANNAMANN; Portland Mercury
[November 22, 2007]

"And like that tearjerking funeral scene, Don Quixote 's melancholy closer, "Backwards from Ten," sheds new light on the entire effort. Levine offers personal, honest words--"I've been messed up for so long"--not to mention a rad, melodic guitar lead. The song then builds and breaks into an explosion of chiming guitar, Kyle Chilla's insistent bass and Jordan Selman's crash-'n'-ride drums, over which Levine admits, "Forgot my name/ Until you gave me a name again." Much like the broodingly epic post-rock of early-'90s slowcore outfits Hum or Seam, Welsh Rabbit suddenly makes you feel something. And when Levine adds, "And if you wanted/ I'd count backwards from 10," you don't know the specifics, but you know it's about longing--and it's totally affecting. Likewise, when Chilla (who shares vocal and songwriting duties) adds a soft, wounded, "So fuck you" after the painfully typical, "You broke my heart in two/ When you said, 'I do,'" on "Dexy's Midnight Lover," it feels human. It feels like slinking away from an ex's wedding with your head down..."

AMY MCCULLOUGH; Willamette Week
[November 21st, 2007]