Page 37 - September 2017
P. 37

ALBUM REVIEWS
BY BEVERLEY NAPALM
Cruel Summer Ivy
(Mt. St. Mtn records)
There can’t be many bands in the world with the vim and verve to name themselves after a Bananarama song, but Oakland’s Cruel Summer (not to be confused with New Jer- sey’s Cruel Summer), manage to handle the mantle with grace and poise. (And sound noth- ing like Bananarama incase you were wondering.) On their debut album, the band finds their niche with some accomplished dreamy mid tempo Shoegaze-pop. There seems to be a recent desire among current US indie-bands to delve into a bit of shoegaze. Maybe the recently reformed Slowdive are to blame? Much of what is considered “Classic Shoegaze” has left me a bit cold and feeling suffocated with the weight of its own pretention over the years. Cruel Summer wisely stick to a more pop orientated vibe and come across more play- ful and dynamic than many of their peers. And the bulk of the bands that potentially have influenced them too, for that matter.
The female vocals are a big plus for me. Vocalist Thea Chacamat’s delightful reverb drenched voice swirls in and out of the My Bloody Valentine inspired waves of guitar. It’s a great anchor, and helps the band avoid complete self-indulgent guitar pedal stomping, whilst managing to hold the songs accountable to a strong sense of melody throughout the proceedings. It’s a good example of why Cruel Summer succeeds on a well-trodden path whilst so many other bands mining a similar vein flounder.
There are some perky neat little pop songs on here. The upbeat “Trust” has an engag- ing interaction between the bass and chiming guitars, leaving ample space for the vocal. The fuzzy-pop thriller “Dusted” has all the right elements for a bonafide pop hit. “Skyless” is a well-constructed pop song, shifting tempo midway through the song, and flip flopping interplay between clean guitar and fuzzed out racket. Most enjoyable. The albums brevity (just 9 songs and a 24-second “intro”) also works in the band’s favor. It leaves its mark with- out appearing cloying or overstated.
I should also mention the remarkable two color vinyl this LP is pressed on, clear and blue. It looks very striking and classy, as does the sleeve artwork. I must admit I can’t recall any other Shoegaze bands with such vibrant LP covers. Nice to see they avoided the terminally dull various shades of gray arty or a blurry out of focus sleeve.
It’s apparent Cruel Summer are having a lot of fun on these recordings, and I’m sad to learn these songs may be the band’s last hurrah. Bands in the Bay Area don’t seem to stick around too long it seems, and usually implode or move out of the area after only managing to hold it together long enough to document their brief existence. Which is a shame, but at least we have a lasting document of the band’s collective talents. The good news is that the Bay Area indie scene is incestuous enough that I don’t doubt the various members will spring back into action in some guise at some point.
Cruelsummmer.bandcamp.com – (Note, three ‘m’s in summer, unless you want to check out New Jersey’s Cruel Summer also!)
Kristin Hersh
Wyatt at Coyote Palace (Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records)
Many will remember Kristin Hersh as the wide-eyed dynamic front woman of the ev- er-so-slightly-unhinged ‘80s pop band Throwing Muses. Her youthful vocals often resembled someone on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Indeed, Ms. Hersh has openly battled schizophrenia and bipolar disorder throughout her life and at various times has claimed to have not remembered writing much of the early classic Throwing Muses mate- rial. The discordant energy of the Throwing Muses (3 ladies and a guy drummer), propelled them from cult status to Alternative crossover contenders, culminating with the band often sneaking into the lower reaches of the national charts, before finally hitting the top 10 in 1989 with their hit “Dizzy.” They were the first American band to be signed to the highly influential arty London label 4AD Records, and regularly toured with label mates Pixies. It was pioneering stuff that helped redefine gender roles in rock and pop at the time, for sure. Yet the ‘90s came and went, the band broke up, and I somehow never kept up with Ms. Hersh’s post-Muses output. Which is a shame, (for me), as I’ve been enjoying this LP immensely the last couple of weeks.
There is clearly turbulence in Ms. Hersh’s personal life that has been channeled through- out her art over the years to great effect. Wyatt At The Coyote Palace was written over a 5-year period, and was inspired by her son Wyatt, who is on the autism spectrum. Wyatt was fixated by an abandoned building inhabited by coyotes. As the parent of an autistic child, I recognize some of the claustrophobic darkness that seeps into this collection of songs. There is a whirlwind of emotion packed into much of the material. Lyrically abstruse, like the majority of her output, it often feels like Hersh is trying to communicate through a language known only to her. I guess all the clues are there if you have the patience to deci- pher, or simply read your own meaning into the lyrics. Maybe it doesn’t matter, because the songs are great. There are snippets of clarity, such as “Sun Blown” where Hersh admits “I’ll tell no lies / I’m so f***ing tired of dissolution.”
Her voice remains as captivating as ever. The songs, in general, are downbeat and rely heavily on acoustic guitar for the most part. Some of the songs indeed feel unfinished and open-ended. Which is okay, as it lends a further confessional quality to the songs. All are carried by her voice, which for the most part is brittle and yearning.
“Bright” is a subtle pick for an album opener but is one of the fuller sounding tracks on the LP, starting with fragments of acoustic guitar, before gathering momentum spilling into a drone-scape that leaves the listener feeling hazy and disconnected.
“Secret Codes” has hints of past-mania, and like much of the album, feels dark yet hope- ful. “Killing Two Birds” is one of the album highlights. Without full band accompaniment, the acoustic guitar is disjointed and quirky, with Kristin’s vocals sparkling to great effect. Another highlight for me, in a similar stylistic vein, is “From A Plane.”
As a 24-song double LP, it’s quite an undertaking absorbing all Wyatt At Coyote Palace has to offer in one sitting. And although a painfully obvious cliché to state, it certainly benefits from repeated listens.
kristinhersh.bandcamp.com
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