Record Reviews

Women Confuse Us

Posted by: Johnny Loftus on July 2, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Women, Women (Flemish Eye, 2008)

MP3: “Black Rice”

Note to all musicians working in the 21st century: Do not name your band after a common noun or word, then follow up that naming process by naming your debut the very same word. Go ahead, you try it: search “women” in Google and see what happens. Technical difficulties aside, the debut of this Alberta, Canada-based band gets pleasantly lost in a din of their own creation. There are shreds of folk music here and there, but also ragged scraps of feedback and electronic noise. Women waver back and forth like this, as if they’re trying to find a new kind of nature; in the captivating mecha-folk of opening suite “Lawncare,” “Woodbine,” and “Black Rice,” Women seemingly plug their samplers and effects boxes into natural outlets at the base of the sturdy trees behind their studio. Later, more conventional influences arise, such as Panda Bear and the simplistic folk melodies of 1960s pop. But even in the “soon we will be laughing” lines of “Group Transport Hall,” there’s a sense that this is just a snatch of what music can sound like — it’s Womens’ right to choose where they want to go next that makes their debut so unpredictable and interesting. Best of all, they don’t overdo the freaks on a druggy trip into the dark forests vibe. As strange and unformed as some of these songs seem, it’s in their mismatched parts that Women find their niche. Weird , wild, and occasionally disorienting — check out the jolts of bizarro percussion that stab their way through “January 8th” — Women’s Women is as without category as something unsearchable by modern Internet means. — Johnny Loftus

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