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Spotlight

Doris Henson

Get your first impression, then toss it out the window: Doris Henson isn’t the latest female indie darling to make headlines. In fact, Doris Henson isn’t even a single person, but rather an all-male quintet hailing from the Spin-worthy breeding grounds of Lawrence, Kansas, and Kansas City.

Despite its Midwestern birthplace, Doris Henson combines sounds of today’s East Coast (Interpol-esque vocals) and West Coast (’80s influence, Killers-style). The result is Give Me All Your Money, the band’s second full-length effort, but the first on DeSoto Records (home to the now-defunct Dismemberment Plan).

While it’s not a concept album, Money‘s instrumentation and vocals get layered, allowing each song to flow easily into the next. Lyrics tend to lean towards tongue-in cheek obviousness (“You have seen me naked, I won’t let you down” in “Let You Down”), and hooks are created by repetition rather than melodic catchiness: The catchphrase in “Big Future” is heard no less than ten times throughout the song’s four-plus minutes. “Charles Knives” begins as a slightly cacophonic mix of guitars and drums, while “Joybirds” and the faster-paced “Day Is Done” let Mike Walker show his stuff on trombone. Make no mistake: Though this may sound like an ’80s-flavored synth-pop song, that is an authentic horn your ears are hearing.

Having just finished a stint opening for Billy Corgan, Doris Henson has a few Midwest dates scheduled before opening a leg of Mates of State’s upcoming tour.

Doris Henson tour dates: 8/12, Minneapolis, MN (Triple Rock Social Club)8/13, Omaha, NE (Sokol Underground)9/27, Lawrence, KS (The Granada)*9/28, Ames, IA (Maintenance Shop)*(* – with Mates of State)

Link:Doris Henson official site

Listen to this band and each week’s SPIN.com Bands of the Day on the SPINsider Podcast! For more about the SPINsider, visit spin.com/podcast or click here to launch iTunes.