| LOVESICK 3 song Demo |
I hesistate to call Boise band Lovesick "Gothic
Pop." Sure, Lovesick's music is melodious and hook-laden. Sure,
their influences are obvious: Morrissey, the Cure, and Sisters of Mercy,
with a heaping helping of 80s synth/MTV bands and a sprinkling of 90s
indie rock to top things off. But "Gothic Pop" brings
up nightmlare images of perkigoths bobbing their heads vacantly to the
latest from I Can't Believe It's Not Gary Numan... and Lovesick deserves
far better than "Haunting," the track which opens Lovesick’s three-song demo CD, is well crafted, with clean production, nice guitar work, and refreshingly sincere vocals. When they finally put the tombstone over alternative rock, its epitaph will read "It Smirked Itself to Death." Thankfully, Jeran Dahlquist doesn't sound like some art school dropout affecting a pose. When he sings, "You keep telling me/That I don't understand/Well, no shit/isn't that the point?" he really sounds... well, Lovesick. Still, this version of "Haunting" didn't quite work for me. Lovesick plays well -- but so do many other bands doing this brand of Alternative Rock. On the rest of this CD the slick production is a feature: here it's a bug. I suspect "Haunting" is more impressive on stage than in the studio: I'd be very interested in hearing this as a straight-ahead bluesy rocker recorded live at a small club. Its catchy bass line and 4/4 beat would adapt well to a harder-edged treatment and to the demands of live performance. "StarFall," on the other hand, drew me in from the start. The synthesizer riffs and tinkling electric piano, combined with Jeren Dahlquist's crooning, reminded me of Howard Jones, Spandau Ballet, the Thompson Twins and other 80s synthpop ballad bands. I'm usually not a big fan of synthpop, but Lovesick did a superb job on this one. This one brings back memories of Molly Ringwald and the Breakfast Club. It's astonishing how well Lovesick captured the sound of that era in this song, but never let things become glossy or cheesy. (Until now, I would have said it was impossible to separate the cheese from 80s synthpop... ) "StarFall" has definite potential as a single, particularly if they edit it from its current 8’34” length. "Sometimes" really showcases Jeran's vocal skills. "Sometimes I'm strong," he half-sings, half-mumbles over slow funeral chords, "sometimes I hate you like I should." The lyrics are dark and depressing as anything Robert Smith ever wrote, but Jeran's performance is genuinely anguished where Smith would have been grandly theatrical. "Sometimes" is probably the most classically "Goth" song on this sampler, arguably the strongest. It's not often that a three-song demo yields two exceptional singles and one strong contender. I'm hoping Lovesick makes it to New York in the near future; in the meantime, I’m going to be waiting patiently for their inevitable major label debut. This band is too good to stay underground. TRACK LISTING: Lovesick is: Artist's Site c. 2001 Idiom Records |