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Sandra Black: Self-Titled
By the time youre reading this, it will be a week into 2003, but as Im writing, its January 2nd and I still feel hung over. My neck is killing me and my eyes are crusted over. I cant breathe. Most people think that the remedy for a painful situation like this is to put on some quiet music, lie in bed with cucumber slices over the eyes, and drink chamomile tea. But really, you need some fuzz guitars to get into the cracks of your cranium and clean the crap out, like taking steel wool to that chili pot thats been soaking in your sink. And Sandra Blacks debut album is the one for the job: its loud and distorted, but it goes down smooth. Then you get some quieter songs near the end for when you pass out. Oh yeah, so Sandra Black is a band, not a person, which Im sure theyre getting sick of explaining to people by now, and theyre from West Virginia, which is difficult to explain in its own way. Their louder songs are shoegazer rockers, though more shoegazer in the Jesus and Mary Chain sense of traditionally structured rock songs with a bunch of fuzz guitars on top rather than shoegazer in the My Bloody Valentine sense of abstract fucked-up noise with little touches of normalcy. Meanwhile, the quiet songs are mellow and warm with a touch of twang. Singer Billy Zwiener affects a Corganesque whine on some songs, but Sandra Black usually stays away from the bombast and angst of Smashing Pumpkins. Instead, the overall tone is one of wistfulness. Opening track Got My Kicks knows that to rock hard, sometimes youve got to play it nonchalant, kickin at the dirt like you dont give a fuck. But Nyabinghi Dance Hall goes straight for scenery-chewing mayhem, with a chorus of Oh oh oh oh oh ooohh oh! proving that sometimes multisyllabic words just wont suffice. The two home-recorded tracks are also oddly compelling: Track Three features low-key vocals and Martian guitar bleeps, and 83 Wagon is a lazy acoustic number that degenerates into hysterical laughter. Sure, not all the songs work, but even the ones that dont are listenable, and by the time you get to them, Sandra Black has built up enough good will that you can overlook their flaws. So, yeah, this is a pretty good CD by a pretty good band. It seems familiar and comfortable without coming across as a facsimile of the bands influences. Its refreshing to hear a band that doesnt overplay or overemote. When youre lying on the floor trying to keep warm because your bones are too rusty for you to get into bed, Sandra Black will envelop you in a cozy blanket of distortion, wipe the fever sweat off your forehead, and fix you a glass of lemonade.
This album can be purchased at the Sandra Black Official Website LEFT OFF THE DIAL's Sandra Black page About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
