Westbound

CD Cover Celestial Magenta
Independent

Review by Darren Kerr



I saw Celestial Magenta play one of the Music Waste benefits about three years ago. I didn't like them. I thought they were typical noise-pop caterwauling. About a year later when I was writing for the Gleaner somebody gave me their cassette, which I didn't listen to and inevitably lost. And now, Monika, Linda, and Carla, I apologize for writing you off as just another band in a world of just another bands.

This four-song EP is excellent. The production is the epitome of clarity, standing up to releases from bigwig studios. And finally we are blessed with a female voice that sounds nothing like the Alanis clone brigade, big hair blues rock, or Olympia twee pop. Monika Chromy's voice is somewhere between the deadpan delivery of old guard new wave and the vibrancy of Blake Babies-era Juliana Hatfield, with her vocal style, at times, approaching King Cobb Steelie's Kevan Byrne. Her guitar has a crunchy saturated sound that gives the songs more torque. The rhythm section of Carla Rosa Jorge on bass and Linda Stevens on drums is first class tight and creative. Of the four songs on Westbound I can't pick one that stands out. They are all abundant with vocal hooks and clever chord structures.

Celestial Magenta are one of our beloved editor's favorite local bands. Now I understand why.


Artist Contact Info: #5 - 3217 Heather St., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V5Z 3K4, celestialmagenta@hotmail.com




First published in Drop-D Magazine on April 25, 1998

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