 Spinster
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hell"
CDR
Shilly-Shally
Recordings
Genres: indie rock, punk
e-mail the
band
Mar 31 - Apr 6 2003 |
Opinionated
lyrics, a melodic guitar rock sound, and an extremely attractive lead
singer sum up Spinster pretty well. Over the five songs
on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hell, the band prove
that they've got all the aspects of a winning rock band, and yet still
have some work to do. First things first, Spinster's punk-influenced rock
compositions are very well written. Their problem doesn't lie in
their lyrics or their songwriting - it lies in their execution.
The most obvious problem is a notable disunion between the
instrumentation and Kyle Moss' vocals. Girly and yet
still of a rock breed, her singing is often too loud in the recording,
making the other instruments seem to fade into the background.
As well, the guitars and vocals just don't seem to blend like you'd
expect them to. Sometimes this is reminiscent of bands like Bikini Kill
and The Raincoats, to some extent.
"Fashion Victim" is a good example of their music. Succinct
and to the point, their lyrics make blunt statements like "Teenage girls want to be models/Downing diet pills by
bottles"; their points are summed up clearly in their choruses: "Fashion victim, she's a painted
skeleton." However, much of the release still suffers from slightly annoying vocals and a so-so
recording quality. "Springbreak In Manhattan," on the
other hand, is the album's best track - its melodies work, and the
correlation between the instruments and the vocals is much more tight.
All in all, Spinster's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way
to Hell EP is an opinionated romp that hints at a
promising future for the band.
78%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
5 songs, distributed by the
band, released 2002] |
