Girls
Album
(True Panther Sounds)
Many of the songs on Girls’ debut feel instantly familiar. San Francisco’s Christopher Owens and J.R. White have crafted a series of deceptively simple tunes that are disarmingly sincere, filled with sturdy riffs and catchy melodies that seem tailor-made for campfire sing-alongs. The rough-hewn production adds additional homemade charm and keeps the duo’s penchant for referencing previous musical eras from becoming overly slavish. The echoes of Phil Spector (“Ghost Mouth”), ’60s crooner ballads (“Lauren Marie”), and rockabilly shuffle (“Darling”) all feel charming in this context, instead of calculating. Even their blatant Beach Boys pastiche is redeemed by a scrim of distortion—and the title “Big Bad Mean Mother Fucker.” Occasionally Girls recycle a good melody or beat a catchy refrain into the ground, but mostly you’ll be glad to have songs like the buoyant rocker “Lust for Life” and plaintive “Laura” stuck in your head for days. —Jeff Jackson
As Yet Quintet
Strange But True
(independent)
Vermont-based As Yet Quintet is a convergence of several musicians who hail from quite different directions in jazz and world music. The original sounds of Strange But True swirl into moments of percussion-heavy groove (equal parts Indian and South American), vertiginous Eastern melody, and piano-based jazz. Clarinetist Anna Patton’s playing offers a sense of surprise, navigating smooth melodies, then bouncing through klezmer-like phrases. Patton is joined by pianist Eugene Uman and violinist/violist Miamon Miller in crafting melodies, and underpinning the globe-spanning sounds is the seamless interaction of percussionists Todd Roach and Julian Gerstin. Unusual time signatures and keening, mournful melodies jam up against lively Carribean forms and contemplative jazz, and it’s seldom expected when the music takes a turn toward new territory. Highly recommended for lovers of complex and playful music. —James Heflin
Jamie Kent
Neoteny
(Jamie Kent)
It takes a few tracks for Jamie Kent’s new album, Neoteny, to build up steam, but once it gains speed and starts chugging along, it reveals itself to be a swinging, witty romp of an album. The opening track, “Matilda,” feels a little like a Chicago outtake, and lacks the character that the later songs convey so well. The next song, “Games” starts with a ukulele and gives a better sense of the fun Kent’s having and his skills as a songwriter, with a hybrid jazz/rock sensibility reminiscent of Steely Dan. Above all, though, Kent is a crooner, and his expansive voice can mumble comfortably through an up-close-and-personal folksy love song (“Once Again”), skip along with a reggae saunter (“Isabella”), take the lead in front of a full, rocking band complete with backup singers (“Mischief Man”), or cry out alongside a horn section, offering the kind of nuanced phrasing you might find in a jazz nightclub (“Snow”). —Mark Roessler
