Dig Yourself

構成数 : 1
合計収録時間 : 00:30:44
Audio Mixer: Vince Ratti. Recording information: High Point, NJ. Photographer: Bob Sweeney. Following a self-titled EP by two years, Dig Yourself is the first album and Topshelf Records debut for Queen of Jeans, a Philadelphia indie rock band led by singer and songwriter Miriam Devora. All four of them are members of the city's music scene who have played in other bands. What sets Queen of Jeans apart is a mix of surf rock, dream pop, and psychedelic rock that they weave into a fabric if its own. One of the more blatantly retro tracks on the debut is "U R My Guy," whose fat and fuzzy lead guitar tone acts as a duetting partner for Devora. Handclaps, crash cymbals, and girl-group backing vocals also accompany the singer, who approaches Grace Slick territory in the lead up to more even-keeled choruses. Most of the songs, though, balance surf textures and old-fashioned vocal harmonies with spooky psychedelia and more contemporary, sophisticated soundscapes. The torch song "Heads Turn" uses a sparer arrangement with simple drums, organ, airy backing vocals, and an electric guitar that mostly marks chord changes. Another surprise is "You're Never Alone," an a cappella hymn with three-part harmony set against the sound of crashing waves. The album ends on the drumless "Space," a dreamy ballad that fades into a swirl of harmonic echo. Dig Yourself is sonically ambitious but also easy to process and often catchy, and somehow feels intimate through it all with vocal performances and lyrics that ache and yearn for something more. It comes across as a complex idea fully formed and executed, an enviable trait for a debut. ~ Marcy Donelson