Independent
Review by Alphonse Leong
Mostly free of any first-time hyperactivity or giddiness,
this debut disc from Vancouver's Dorothy
Missing features soundly-structured
songs, co-written by guitarist Karen Rauh and vocalist Sara Mitchell,
and tight, well-paced playing from the band as a whole. The material
may be a bit wide-ranging for those who prefer songs on a CD to
be of a similar stripe: you get everything from philosophical
musings set against an edgy guitar backdrop ("Press")
to cute, almost loungy pop ("9 Lives") to somber piano
ballads ("Sleep"). A standout track is the short (a
mere 1:50!) "Middle Child," with it's haunting urgency
("I know what I want/I can feel it like a rainy day coming").
Mitchell's voice is sometimes tinged with an anguished
rasp that works well on moodier stuff like "Taking a Bath"
or "The Crescent," but she mostly takes on a crisp,
authoritative schoolteacher tone. Indeed, the lyrics tend to be
declarative, like "I'm told I'm intelligent, I'm just waiting
for the evidence" from "Memory Bank" or "And
pages turn to things to burn and I say it's just as well"
from "Press." Sorry, no "Oh, baby, I need you so
badly" lines here; about as romantic as Mitchell gets is
when she calmly sings, "If I had nine lives, I'd spend them
all with you" (from "9 Lives").
For the real unbridled passion, you have to turn
to Rauh's guitar-playing. Combining technical virtuosity with
an elegant inventiveness, she plays with the intensity of 60's
and 70's guitar gods (those strange creatures who mastered their
instruments before putting a band together) and may be the heralder
of a whole new era of guitar goddesses! With a variety
of cool riffs that rival anything you can hear on Led Zeppelin's
Houses of the Holy, she plays a particularly nice solo
on "The Interview" and shows some dazzling, dreamy acoustic
guitar-work (and impressive finger strength!) on "Autumnal
Bliss."
The only thing that disturbed me about this disc
was a peculiar animal figurine pictured on the back cover -- it's
pretty creepy.
Artist Contact Info: #159, 2496 E. Hastings St., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V5K 1Z1
Dorothy Missing