Northeast Performer - October 2006
Hallelujah the Hills
by Lindsey Crudele
Charlie’s Kitchen
Cambridge, MA
Aug. 21, 2006
Hallelujah the Hills played an exuberant set laced with delicate melodies inside sweeping, triumphant orchestration. The six-member-strong band plays songs that are as sprawling and grand as the band itself. Opening with “Slow Motion Records Broken at Breakneck Speeds,” multi-instrumentalist Matthew Brown fused a synth hook with a call from trumpeter Brian Rutledge, who danced raucously onstage whenever he wasn’t playing. Brown regularly employed a melodica, evoking a haunting, distant sound beneath the literary lyrical turns of singer and lead guitarist Ryan Walsh, formerly of the Stairs. Standouts include the oft-quoted “Wave Backward to Massachusetts” and the slow storyteller’s ramble of “The House Is All Lit Up.” Closing with the dearly catchy “The Trap,” Rutledge emerged again from behind the crowd, slicing through to rejoin the band up front, and leading them to an angular final breakdown and a happily exhausted exhale after a thrilling night of music.