Girl in a Coma: Both Before Im Gone
By
Evan Sawdey 2 July 2007PopMatters Interviews Editor
It’s the damnedest thing: here’s a trio of Goth girls who worships the Smiths and release an album that cross-pollinates Bossanova-era Pixies with everything you’ve ever loved about the Breeders. The guitar playing is fast and furious, but it never gets too showy. “The Photographer” is pure Kim Deal adrenaline, while the handclap-led “In the Background” is double-time Interpol on Steve Albini ice skates. However, not all is well in the land of self-deprecation. “Mr. Chivalry” very much outstays its five minutes of running time (as does most of these songs, which could be trimmed by a minute to no harm), and often singer Nina Diaz’s vocals are a bit too low in the mix. (It’s for this reason that closing track “Simple Man” is nothing short of a revelation.) The simple acoustic-and-voice take is brilliant, letting Diaz touch all the notes that Karen O. keeps dreaming of hitting but never does. With as fully-formed a debut album as this, one can only wonder what wild grounds their sophomore effort will lead them towards.
Evan Sawdey began contributing to PopMatters in late 2005 after contributing for years to his college newspaper
The Knox Student. Evan became the Associate Interviews Editor for PopMatters in the summer of 2008, and then the full Interviews Editor a year after that. Since joining, Evan's work has been quoted/featured in a wide array of publications including SLUG Magazine, The Metro (U.K.), the Gulf Times, Soundvenue Magazine (Denmark), and multiple national newspapers. Evan has been a guest on WNYC's Soundcheck (an NPR affiliate), was the Executive Producer for the
Good With Words: A Tribute to Benjamin Durdle album (available for free at
GoodWithWordsAlbum.com), and wrote the liner notes for the 2011 re-release of
Andre Cymone's hit 1985 album A.C. (Big Break Records) and the 2012 re-releases of
the JoBoxers' 1983 debut album Like Gangbusters,
'Til Tuesday's 1985 debut Voices Carry, and
Plastic Bertrand's 1978 album AN 1 (all Hot Shot Records). He is a current member of The Recording Academy and resides in Chicago, Illinois. You can follow him
@SawdEye should you be so inclined.
Girl in a Coma - Clumsy Sky
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