REVIEW: Junkster, Junkster (RCA)
- Janet Herman
Hailing from Ireland, the quintet Junkster makes their debut with a self-titled album that makes a strong attempt to fit in to some of today's most popular artists. Unfortunately this attempt is made so strongly that Junkster seems to lack a unique style of their own. A random hip-hop beat that appears on some of the tracks might evoke comparisons to Tricky, but the more evident similarities are to Sarah McLachlan and Garbage, though one can not expect from listening to Junkster to find a voice and musical sound so haunting as the work of Ms. McLachlan. There is a similarity in vocal range of Deirdre O'Neill, the lead singer, to that of Sarah McLachlan's but the musical style is much closer to that of Garbage (hence the similar name, perhaps?). Many of the tracks including "Slide" and "Liar" have the same sort of effect to that of Garbage: the feeling of a woman ranging in emotions and attitude from coquettish to angry backed by musical accompaniment involving strong percussions and pouncing guitars.
Another artist that strongly comes to mind when listening to Junkster is Sophie B. Hawkins, whose influence screams out the most in the lovely track "Clown". I truly thought Ms. O'Neill would start singing the lines, 'As I lay me down to sleep, I pray that you will hold me near....' Needless to say, she doesn't, but the sound is definitely there.
Overall I do see a strong potential for Junkster. They appear at a time when strong female vocalists are on a rise (Tori Amos, Sarah MacLachlan, Ani DiFranco, Jewel, Fiona Apple, Shirley Manson, to name a few) and it is apparent that they want to be part of that group. Hopefully they will be able to find their own unique sound among the influence of their peers.
