brian

Artist: Jesca Hoop

Album: the House That Jack Built

Jesca Hoop makes albums rooted in skewed folk-pop. Her melodies, however hummable many of them are, refuse to resolve neatly, and her arrangements often unfurl with a private logic.  The House That Jack Built features, for example, Ode to Banksy, girl-group pop by way of rapid Madchester drum shuffle, where the chorus hook is a key change that’s exactly one bar long. Or, much darker, there’s Deeper Devastation’s soft guitar, […]

Artist: Birdeatsbaby

Album: Feast of Hammers

Birdeatsbaby play outgoing piano-rock with cabaret aspects. With Amanda Palmer now a solo act, Birdeatsbaby (led by singer/pianist Mishkin Fitzgerald) are the obvious nearest successors to the Dresden Dolls for me; they also suggest Stephanie Rearick with a full band and a confident strut. Feast of Hammers has several impressive singles, smart and catchy. Love Will Bring You Nothing and Anchor have nimble tempo-shifts; elegant violin; long looping melodies; dramatic choruses; and […]