Talk Normal // Sugarland

(Rare Book Room, 2009)

Download Talk Normal – “In A Strangeland”

A couple of years ago I had the extreme displeasure of watching Kill Your Idols, a half-hearted documentary on the influential and avant-garde No Wave music scene of the 1970s. All the film really amounted to was a lot of pathetic posturing about how much better it was “back when the music really meant something, man” (if I never again have to hear Glenn Branca complaining about the apathy and uncreativity of today’s musicians I will consider myself to have led a rewarding and fulfilling life.) The most embarrassing parts, though, featured the shoe-horned, modern “art bands” the director chose to juxtapose the early pioneers with; do Theoretical Girls, Suicide, and James Chance really remind you of Gogol Bordello, A.R.E. Weapons, or (shutter) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in either sound or ideology? I’d suspect not.

And so I was immediately interested when I started reading about Talk Normal, a duo hailing from Brooklyn, NY that has played with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and whose lead vocalist has garnered comparisons both ‘good’ (she sounds like Lydia Lunch!) as well as ’sketchy’ (she sounds like Karen O!).  At best I expected nothing more than an all-female Suicide ripoff, and at worst I thought it would sound like two girls who listened to “Maps” way too often in college. What I got was something a lot more interesting than either of those prospects: a solid noise record that both embraces and transcends its avant-garde sound.

To start: yes, it’s without question a No Wave inspired sound. The droning guitars, the beating bass drum, the piercing feedback– it’s all there, but what sets Sugarland apart is how much more methodical it is than your average noise record. It’s a bit of a misconception that No Wave artists in the seventies were unstructured; the structure of the songs may have been a bit disjointed but there was an underlying framework that pieced them together. What Andrya Ambro (drummer/vocalist) and Sarah Register (guitarist) have done here is bring that framework to the forefront, creating haunting, layered songs in a style known for having no real formula. If anything the duo have gone beyond any preconceived notions of what the genre entails,  succeeding in avoiding many of the tropes that make other, like-sounding bands  seem inaccessible. For example, while the beginning of the opening track, “Hot Song”, may start with the hum of feedback and pounding drums it soon breaks into a wild yet melodic riff. Their cover of Roxy Music’s “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” takes the opposite approach,  starting with a tinge of emotion and a spacey sound that ultimately deconstructs, grinding itself to completion. And “In a Strangeland” (link to download is above) shapes the music around the lyrics, engulfing you in claustrophobic ambience as Ambro self-consciously sings “I’m a stranger/ In a strangeland/ Don’t push me away/ Help me“.

Comparisons are inevitable, as critics more often than not tend to compare female singers to other female singers, as if there’s some big club of girls somewhere who teach each other about music and homogenize their styles so as to be easily placed in one category or another. But comparisons of Andrya Ambro to Karen O. only work if you’re the kind of person who thinks all black people look the same or that the Strokes sound like the Velvet Underground (I’m looking at you on both counts, Spin!). Supporters have called Ms. O’s voice “beautiful”, which I thought meant something good, but I guess really means “shrill and annoying”. Ambro shows almost deceptive emotional range and has a voice that’s more careful than piercing, always picking her spots when it comes to breaking into more raw moments rather than falling back on it like a crutch. She shows that same proficiency on drums, and Register follows suit with her guitar playing– as simple and noisy as it is refined. There really is a lot going on in these songs that you don’t even catch the first time around, despite being just over forty-five minutes long.

To dismiss Sugarland as just another noise record is irresponsible, and to label the band solely as a No Wave throwback isn’t fair. There’s something beneath the surface here that a band like, say, Hella lacks– a darker, deeper edge, maybe. They also wear their influences on their sleeves, while simultaneously not pigeon holing themselves; reinventing a style that at times can sound stale and outdated. But whether you consider it an ode to a lost generation, or an anthem for the next, there’s no denying Talk Normal’s Sugarland is a pretty impressive debut.

-Paul DeBenedetto