Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Frankie Rose on Slumberland

It's confirmed, Frankie was the epicenter of the Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts, it's all in the drums. You wouldn't think that would completely control the sound, but it's the constant thing I think that carries through the three bands best songs. Sure there's a specific feel of guitar effects for the two, washy, reverb, buried, but she creates the tempo, she keeps it all from getting bogged down in slow dance sludge, it's always at least double time to the obvious guitar riffs. She created this style in the Vivian Girls, perfected it further in the Stilts, and this solo stuff is going to take it even one step further.
I don't know who else is int he band, or how much they are driving the sound, but I have to think based on her previous involvement that she's even coming up with melodies, probably the overall feel of the tracks.
When I saw her drum for the Stilts, I remember her playing 'Where do you run to?', it was a Vivian Girls track, so I was confused, but now that she posted a demo of it on her myspace she must have gotten credit on that one and taken it with her for this Frankie solo project.
Good on her, she's just ahead of every curve, pretty much single handedly coming up with an entire sub genre Brooklyn scene.
This track 'Thee Only One, is that dense rocking tempo swirl, heavy reverb, who knows how many guitar layers. The drums are a mile away, under everything a Frankie special: a tambourine perpetually glued to the tom, or maybe snare in this case, strummed chords that are all treble like metal reverb chimes. Her vocals, layered harmonies, with ahhh's of course...but it's a rock solid start to this solo project I want to hear more of.

Newly redesigned Midheaven (nice work guys) has it for preorder, or wait until Slumberland finally offers an add to cart button.

ROSE, FRANKIE - Thee Only One - Slumberland - SL 110 - 7" - $ 4.00
***As a founding member, songwriter, instrumentalist, and vocalist in Vivian Girls and drummer and occasional vocalist in Crystal Stilts, Frankie Rose has been an integral part of two of the most highly acclaimed and influential groups to come out of Brooklyn's still-vital music scene in the past several years. Her solo project not only reflects the earmarks of both those groups, but also reveals her as a fully-formed artist in her own right. Ms. Rose's music is haunted by the ghosts of '60s girl group Brill Building and '80s and '90s noise-pop in equal measure. It's a spooky, lovely sound--her ethereal yet affectation-free voice swirling in a sea of church-like harmonies over a bed of tambourines, bells, and propulsive drumming. Recalling in spirit groups like The Aislers Set and Black Tambourine, Rose's music is timeless and immediate, both deeply personal and completely universal. Pitchfork cited "Where Do You Run To?" as one of the best songs of 2008, and after much anticipation Slumberland presents Rose's debut single. Recorded at Marlborough Farms Studio with Gary Olson, Kyle Forrester, and Crystal Stilts' J.B. Townsend, "Thee Only One" is a perfect slice of surf-tinged noise-pop. Laden with rumbling reverb and tangy guitar twang, it's an ideal tune with which to wrap up another (almost) endless summer. On the flip, "Hollow Life" is a more subdued affair--spectral psychedelia that resembles nothing so much as Opal's Kendra Smith at her most haunting. Building to a mesmerizing crescendo, "Hollow Life" is a sublime complement to "Thee Only One," rounding out this single in fine fashion.

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