Posted: 29th October 2007
11 (B)
Best Song: Juno
1. Tongue Like a Tether 2. Made of Broken Glass 3. Gonna Try to Be a Girl 4. Boxcutter, Baby 5. Something White and Sigmund 6. Your Baby, My Blood 7. Hecate Pose 8. Chameleon 9. Improper Methods 10. Juno 11. If You Really Want So Little From Me 12. Achilles (All 3)
To prove just how much of a sissy I am, this album originally gave me a headache or two. Why? I dunno. It could be all manner of things: maybe it's the dark mood throughout, or the odd time signatures, or the dirty, bassy-distortion on the guitars. I like to think it's because of the awkward red and black album artwork. Did the band get a discount on red paper, and decided to save further by using only black ink? Kidding aside, I'm quite fond of a large portion of this album.
However, I've been told that I'm a critic and "don't have to like everything". Since you should always give in to peer pressure, if I was being pointlessly picky, the long-titled If You Really Want So Little From Me and Your Baby, My Blood would probably both draw short straws. The former is a short minimal acoustic piece that's more interlude than song, while the later mildly creeps me out for some reason. But the drumwork is really good, it's dramatic, and there's a pretty impressive scream at one point! So maybe I like Your Baby, My Blood anyway. Heh. And in regards to screaming, although for the majority Sianna sings quite prettily, she can really howl and scream. Dig it.
If describing the album as "dark and moody" isn't enough, then opener Tongue Like a Tether is pretty good example of what the album's capable of. Sure it starts off simply with Sianna singing sweetly over a mostly clean guitar, but it soon becomes rather dark and menacing, with Sianna almost screaming at times, and lyrics like "Inside you bitch, I've got my fingers!" (Eh?!). The melodies are good, its got a neat structure, and the drumming's freakin' cool too. Another good example is Something White and Sigmund which constantly switches tempos and time-signatures, going from strumming to stomping very quickly. They even fit in a little organ driven bridge and a squealling guitar solo. It's a very cool and exceedingly stylish song.
Despite the potentially oppressive mood, there's enough variety to keep it interesting. Made of Broken Glass is almost power-pop, with pretty singing and melodies, but also has a somewhat un-power-pop extended outro that builds up into a nice climax with a simple and effective lead guitar part. The short Gonna Try to Be a Girl is almost punky, and acts as a particularly nasty putdown to a former love: "I never thought you were good enough for me; I just wanted some arms around me". Nice. Hecate Pose is a pensive acoustic driven number that gets dark and psychedelic. Improper Methods is a weird, stomping glam rocker,
And excluding If You Really Want... all of the quieter songs are spiffy too. Boxcutter, Baby is oh-so creepy, slowly building in tension with lyrics about being "some lost little boys good christian wife", and concludes with some eerie cello. And the best song on the album is a tough call between the other two ballads. Chameleon ruminates on rejection and sounds fantastic, milking the dark and moody vibe for all it's worth, and slowly building in power, while Juno has delicate finger-picking throughout and eventually morphs into a crashing rock song, with a totally unexpected stop-start moment. Both songs are excellent, but I somewhat prefer Juno, because of the interesting melody and the crashing rock section.
Anyway, I think it's a very solid debut and it rates a very sturdy 11 on the Zombos-o-meter. It's dark and moody (there's that goddamn phrase again!), the songs are usually very well-written, melodic and interesting. I even think the lyrics are pretty neat, in my totally uneducated to literature/poetry way. The mood can be a bit overwhelming, the distortion and time-signatures sometimes jarring, and the artwork colors are just plain ugly, but once you get into it, this album is very enjoyable. Check it out.
However, I've been told that I'm a critic and "don't have to like everything". Since you should always give in to peer pressure, if I was being pointlessly picky, the long-titled If You Really Want So Little From Me and Your Baby, My Blood would probably both draw short straws. The former is a short minimal acoustic piece that's more interlude than song, while the later mildly creeps me out for some reason. But the drumwork is really good, it's dramatic, and there's a pretty impressive scream at one point! So maybe I like Your Baby, My Blood anyway. Heh. And in regards to screaming, although for the majority Sianna sings quite prettily, she can really howl and scream. Dig it.
If describing the album as "dark and moody" isn't enough, then opener Tongue Like a Tether is pretty good example of what the album's capable of. Sure it starts off simply with Sianna singing sweetly over a mostly clean guitar, but it soon becomes rather dark and menacing, with Sianna almost screaming at times, and lyrics like "Inside you bitch, I've got my fingers!" (Eh?!). The melodies are good, its got a neat structure, and the drumming's freakin' cool too. Another good example is Something White and Sigmund which constantly switches tempos and time-signatures, going from strumming to stomping very quickly. They even fit in a little organ driven bridge and a squealling guitar solo. It's a very cool and exceedingly stylish song.
Despite the potentially oppressive mood, there's enough variety to keep it interesting. Made of Broken Glass is almost power-pop, with pretty singing and melodies, but also has a somewhat un-power-pop extended outro that builds up into a nice climax with a simple and effective lead guitar part. The short Gonna Try to Be a Girl is almost punky, and acts as a particularly nasty putdown to a former love: "I never thought you were good enough for me; I just wanted some arms around me". Nice. Hecate Pose is a pensive acoustic driven number that gets dark and psychedelic. Improper Methods is a weird, stomping glam rocker,
And excluding If You Really Want... all of the quieter songs are spiffy too. Boxcutter, Baby is oh-so creepy, slowly building in tension with lyrics about being "some lost little boys good christian wife", and concludes with some eerie cello. And the best song on the album is a tough call between the other two ballads. Chameleon ruminates on rejection and sounds fantastic, milking the dark and moody vibe for all it's worth, and slowly building in power, while Juno has delicate finger-picking throughout and eventually morphs into a crashing rock song, with a totally unexpected stop-start moment. Both songs are excellent, but I somewhat prefer Juno, because of the interesting melody and the crashing rock section.
Anyway, I think it's a very solid debut and it rates a very sturdy 11 on the Zombos-o-meter. It's dark and moody (there's that goddamn phrase again!), the songs are usually very well-written, melodic and interesting. I even think the lyrics are pretty neat, in my totally uneducated to literature/poetry way. The mood can be a bit overwhelming, the distortion and time-signatures sometimes jarring, and the artwork colors are just plain ugly, but once you get into it, this album is very enjoyable. Check it out.
