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| A Noir Siren, A Dark Romance Gemma Ray conjures a dark and sensuous world on her US debut, 'Lights Out, Zoltar!' (October 26, Bronzerat Records). Already something of a darling of the foreign press (see above), Ray is set to bring her richly emotional, '50s-inspired music to America this fall. Her fans already include Jimmy Page and Nick Cave' and The Bad Seeds. Anyone with a similar love of expansive emotions, sweeping orchestration, richly reverberating sounds, and a little bit of unease should get very excited. Musically, Ray's songs recall early rock and roll through the lens of a late-night horror film. Take the album's opener, "100 MPH (In Second Gear)"; it's a riot of hollow body guitars (played with a kitchen knife), rolling cymbals, toy pianos, and ghostly female voices. While several of the songs of the album follow this template ("1952", "Goody Hoo", and a few more), there are other sides to Ray. "Tough Love" is a finger snapping track about, well, being tough in relationships; "You were a white dove/I wore a boxing glove, " she sings, as a music-box style xylophones strike in the background. The songs on 'Lights Out, Zoltar!', written by Ray (who also produced most every sound therein), deal with life on the emotional margins. Its characters are stuck in endless metaphorical deserts ("No Water"); they lose their souls to dark forces ("Death Roll"); they're too sick to go out ("So Do I"); they lurk in the shadows, drown, yearn, sneak, and careen out of control. "I try to whip up my human condition into a three-minute tornado, " Ray told UK newspaper The Sun last year. "so it's definitely emotional, hopefully emotive. The vibe of it is futuristic vs. Fifties and Sixties' mini-melodramas." write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |