Description:
Album Description
Although Gates and Plouf still play almost everything on their second outing, they make things more interesting by fooling around with a greater variety of instruments (adding more keyboards particularly) and getting outside guest vocalists to harmonize on a few songs. The songwriting (now handled by Gates exclusively) gets more penetrating as well, and the production is more imaginative (but does not approach slickness). At their most morose they recall "slowcore" groups like Low and Spain, but The Spinanes have more diversity than those acts and they show that on Strand.
Rebecca Gates and
Album Description
Although Gates and Plouf still play almost everything on their second outing, they make things more interesting by fooling around with a greater variety of instruments (adding more keyboards particularly) and getting outside guest vocalists to harmonize on a few songs. The songwriting (now handled by Gates exclusively) gets more penetrating as well, and the production is more imaginative (but does not approach slickness). At their most morose they recall "slowcore" groups like Low and Spain, but The Spinanes have more diversity than those acts and they show that on Strand.
Rebecca Gates and Scott Plouf--or is it the other way around?--literally walk you into Strand, where the palpable, breathy atmosphere and a low, footsteps-in-a-factory rumble-beat greet you at the opening. "Hey baby," Gates whispers, with Plouf echoing her even lower, "Your head's on fire." Welcome to their world. Almost as much has been made of the Spinanes' lack of a bass player (Gates plays guitar and sings, Plouf drums) as has been made of the band's remarkable songs. On record, it doesn't really matter how many people are in the band, the songs veer between layered pop tunes that place the emphasis on a guitar hook and a driving beat, and real downers that concentrate on Gates's whisper-to-a-lover vocals. All the songs are shaded by a true dark side to both the lyrics and the music. "There's nothing so pathetic/ as the way I blow a punchline," Gates reveals on the subdued, almost morose, "Punch Line Loser," rumbling thunder suggesting that there's more to the story than she might be letting on. In "Azure," Gates sings sweetly of "another season of conning dipshits everywhere" in front of a hook that could've been swiped from label-mates Velocity Girl. --Randy Silver
... (more)
(less)
Manufacturer: Sub Pop
Release date: 27 February 1996
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0098787034523 UPC: 098787034523
My tags:
Add tags
Login
