REVIEW: Clare Quilty, Strong (DCide)
- Niles Baranowski
It's been about two years since our last great Garbage single, so maybe it's time to look elsewhere for our bad-girl pleasures. Clare Quilty (a band, not just a girl) summons the same chunky rock sound, albeit a little bit farther along the Veruca Salt power pop axis.
Yet lead singer Jenn Rhubright is, despite her Lisa Loeb looks, a fierce Shirley Manson-esque presence whose voice can contain the massive appetites of her lyrics. On the single "Sleep With You," she sings coyly and then explodes into a fully-driven amazon who's proud of how "naughty" she feels.
This sophomore effort flags and feels indistinct when they try to water down their intensity, as on "Dylarama" or the moody "655321." Yet for its entire first half, it's absolutely enthralling. The go-go beats of "Secret Sharer" provide a stage for some lightning-quick wordplay and it's pretty hard to turn down a song that says "you'll be on your knees when you get it on with me."
"Comfort Me" writhes in agony that's done with all the intensity of method acting. It's on "Angel of the Odd," though, that the band really seems to come alive. Rhubright sums up a sort of dominatrix alter ego with lines about masturbation while showering and impure fantasies. Yet over the Pixies-style feedback flares, Rhubright sounds adoring of this creature she's singing about and when she asks "Don't you want to make this beautiful freak?" she's glowing with determination and brassiness.
It's just this sort of clever, lip-smacking confidence that's going to take Clare Quilty places and distinguish them from competitors. They're only happy when they reign.
