Saturday, March 28, 2009

Cowgirl

playing together for a little over a year now, Providence's own Cowgirl create dense and varied textures within the context of a three piece group.

If I was writing this twenty-five years ago, I'd call these guys a power trio, except that there is a little too much noise in their sound and two of the members are multi-instrumentalists.

Meeting in the Providence scene, and coming from various musical projects, the band gradually coalesced into the current unit I am writing about now.

One of the many great things about this band is the fact that they draw from a very wide pool of resources while not sounding at all derivative. Referencing everything from Olivier Messiaen to New York experimental group Battles will give informed readers a sense of the scope of their influences.

Like all great Providence bands, their sound has familiar elements while being impossible to pigeonhole. I hear a type of voice-leading in the writing that reminds me of Bela Bartok's counterpoint at times, but the classical influence is so seamlessly integrated that you have to be a music geek like me to even notice it is there.

The greatest thing about this band, for me at least, is the fact that in their sophistication they haven't forgotten how to rock. Their drummers use of backbeat and Spencer and Dan's ear for the "killer riff" completes the wall of sound they seem to revel in creating.

An all instrumental group, These boys utilize their training and compositional sophistication to create progressive rock songs that are really compositions covered in a thrashy veneer. There is a strong emphasis on thematic development and a use of passagework that reminds me of European methods of connecting sections of a composition.

Timbrally, I love Spencer's use of distortion. it is truly one of the cleanest sounds I have encountered in "rock" guitar.Also, Dan's bass is very beautifully eq'd, and I find that his high end speaks clearly without losing its bottom. Well done.

Tying it all together, their drummer Chaise is a madman. I am very impressed with the way in which he locks in with Dan to tie down the rhythm while accenting in such a thoroughly syncopated manner. He seems to revel in accompanying the same thematic material with different hits, emphasizing different beat partials at different times. Something like Billy Cobham on acid.

Support this band. We need musicians like this making music like this for as long as possible. Looking for something thoroughly contemporary that is akin to a revelation? Listen to "One" over and over. It gets better and better with each listen.

check em out at www.myspace.com/cowgirltheband

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