Judging A Cover By Its Cover: Stricken City “Songs About People I Know”
November 20, 2009 by John Foster
Volume please: The sound of London’s college kids picking up guitars has finally made the complete revolution from Radiohead bombast to something much smaller and ragged. It’s the sound of 3-4 people careening against each other in the same practice space. It’s the sound of sacrificing (or intentionally tanking) fidelity for a more personal connection. It is the sound of “indie” and it is back in a big way.
Stricken City hit a lot of high points as they burst onto the revitalized indie guitar scene and there is a great deal to recommend about their debut “Songs About People I Know.” Certain long-legged women around these here parts have already developed a ladycrush on them in the worst way. Being part of the Kora family goes a long way on this desk as well.
The singsongy crackle of “Gifted” provides a stolen moment type of introduction – very similar to Sleeping States “Rain Check” in pouring you into the record. The punky swing of “Pull The House Down” reminding the listener of some of the originals in the manner that The Strokes do at times. The fuzz of “Small Things” sets it apart as do the girl group “oooh’s” and spacey guitar break. Throw in early Sugarcubes on playful shuffles like “Tak O Tak” and guitar crunching “Small Things” and you can start to smell what is brewing.
“P.S.” draws heavily from the chugging burst of past greats in this genre like a mix of Life Without Buildings with a jazzy Shelleyan Orphan interlude. After “Sometimes I Love You” broods like Sharkboy, “5 Meters Apart” bounces about like vintage Heavenly. “The Traveller” is right out of The Marine Girls songbook. “Terrible Things” is a bit of weak balladry and shows more than anything how much frontwoman Rebekah Raa benefits from the musical input of her bandmates. When will women learn that there are about five performers in the world at any given time in history that can make this overdone tinkling and twirling worthwhile?
As enjoyable as it all is – it still comes across as a debut in so many ways. Not full mimicry by any means, but not a confident voice or full take on this sound just yet (as in the case of Love Is All for comparison.) Picking out the influences is way too easy and reads like a who’s who of female-led 80’s UK indie mavens. Having every other track sport a different producer likely turned the band on to fresh ideas – but they may have sponged it up too well at the cost of some identity.
Slightly shambling indie rock is waaay back in vogue. We get it. But what does it look like? The big selling point for the packaging is the awkward and mysterious photo of Raa in an enormous mauve headdress. Slumped against the wall, the brim holding out the sunlight just a tad, but not enough to provide comfort. It is her subtle pinched expression that engages upon closer inspection. Photographer Emily Hope does a wonderful job of capturing a moment and the notion of trying on a style and not being sure how it looks on Raa is an unintended look into the very heart of what is happening in the music within.
Raa creates the packaging around her tastes, which are of an excellent pedigree, but translating that doesn’t yet form a cohesive whole just yet
Some interesting type choices – the foremost being the decision to bracket and italicize the band name in every application. Also, the lack of capitalization on the remainder of the song and album titles when it occurs on the first word is strange – treating each one as if it were a sentence as opposed to a song.
There are a few spacing things that make me absolutely stark-raving mad and one can’t be sure if it involves a lack of understanding as to the template or what have you. The image on the front has more white space on the sides operating as an uneven border and the back places the box of type too close to the bottom in a similar fashion – making the combination of mistakes pretty perplexing. Inside nearly pulls off an equal border of white on the abstract blobs of gelatinous red, but has the top do them in which can happen in production (maybe an argument for not doing the border at all – or not this narrow if you choose to do so) but the front and back issue is baffling.
The simple disc label and the inserted black and white foldout photo and lyric sheet don’t inhibit or enhance the experience. More than anything it leaves you with the cover photo to ponder and absorb – perhaps not bad thing.
The greater picture is of an interesting wrapping that suits the music it promotes, despite any small shortcomings – much like how enjoyable the songs are that the foursome produce. It also makes a case for having this little baby in hand. The paper is wonderful to hold and pushes a major argument to own the physical CD.
Keeping Score Are You? Music 6.5 Design 6.5
John Foster puts his money where his mouth is at his very own design firm: Bad People Good Things. He has brand spanking new book out as well with Dirty Fingernails (Rockport). Those publishers went mad and also let him author For Sale: Over 200 Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport), Maximum Page Design (HOW) and a monograph on Jeff Kleinsmith for Sub Pop Records.
I love the front, hate the back, and just don’t understand why in 2009 someone would want to italicize and bracket the band name. Every. Time.
November 20, 2009 at 11:34 am