04/07/04

Sugarplum Fairies

Introspective Raincoat Student Music

Starfish Records

Seemingly from out of nowhere come Los Angeles based musicians, the Sugarplum Fairies, with their release of a solid and melodic album of excellent songwriting and sultry vocals. The band’s core members are vocalist Silvia Ryder, about whom comparisons to Nico are inevitable and accurate, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Bohm. The sixteen songs from Introspective Raincoat Student Music are generally soft and shoe gazing, but there are moments of country twang ("Touchdown or Fly") and Kurt Weill-esque gutter musical influence ("Sticky Summer"). On the latter song, guest vocalist Georg Altziebler takes the second verse with a dripping, creepy manner, all affected vibrato, the effect of which is enhanced when Ryder joins in with her nonchalant enunciation. Keith Mitchell, Mazzy Star’s drummer, played on the record, and his restrained style fits wonderfully with the music, which is always interesting but never rises above a decibel level of six or so – totally arbitrary, yes, but the point is made. The band has been licensing their songs to several television shows (interesting) and been getting some play on NPR and college stations (makes a bit more sense). Introspective Raincoat Student Music is a diverse musical collage of style and feeling, two areas that Sugarplum Fairies are definitely experts in.

Reviewed by Jonah Flicker