S Makes The Cool Choice

The oddly named and impossible to search for S is a spin off project from one of the founding members of Carissa's Weird. While some of the other members of this legendary band went off and formed Band of Horses, Jenn Ghetto retreated to her bedroom with a guitar and a four track recorder. While she may not be as successful as Band of Horses, S is pure and simple and interesting. Three albums into her bedsit exile S is emerging from her bedroom once again with Cool Choices and that's a good thing because it's, quite honestly, better than anything Carissa's Weird ever recorded.

Cool Choices is a fascinating record that hovers between folk music, synthpop and mathy indie rock. What makes this record stick is that there are complex rhythms smack dab next to and quiet acoustic moments and they both work together. There's moments of danceability and moments of introspection and fragility and when combined together S creates a whirlwind of hypnotizing songs that are hard to get away from. While the acoustic tenderness is tolerable, I much prefer her synth'd out tunes and she shows a real knack for creating these dark tinged indie dance hits when the synths come out. "Tell Me," for example takes Cat Power's, "Cross Bones Style," and expands it into a dance floor destroyer. There are hits here tucked neatly between moments of sensitivity and they serve as a constant sense of discovery when you uncover them.

Cool Choices is a fantastic third effort and with the help of Death Cab's Chris Walla behind the scenes it's been polished into something almost cheery. It's the little record that can made by someone who's honest and deeply cares about music even if she occasionally gives it up. For those reasons I think that's why I made the Cool Choice and decided I like this record quite a bit.

Carissa's Weird

Carissa's Weird really aren't that weird, in fact they're really quite your average, everyday, folk pop band. Perhaps it's their ordinary approach and an unusual name that makes them weird, but their music in and of itself is anything but. Coming from the quiet is the new loud school of music, Carissa's Weird gently strum their way across songs as if every guitar string they pick is about to snap in two and as if their hearts have perpetually been broken. Their greatest hits package, They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 collects together seven years of unobtrusive and excessively shy folk pop that tends to be so quiet you wouldn't even know it's there.

Like a whisper in your ear, They'll Only Miss You When You Leave, is something you have to concentrate to hear and something you have to internalize to enjoy. With violins, weepy guitars, brushed drums and sighed vocals aplenty, Carissa's Weird lilt their way across this collection in an almost somber mode that's somewhere between being manic depressive or nearly suicidal. That's not necessarily a bad thing as this despair seems to power the band into making beautifully introspective and quietly meditative tunes that will give your heart a bear hug and strangle it. From the oddly titled, "Die," to the broken heart of, "September Come Take This Heart Away," you can’t help but wonder if the plethora of members who make up this band have ever truly been happy.

This is an intense record that sees a band perpetually dwelling in areas you'd really rather not go. None-the-less it's a gorgeous record that quietly rearranges how folk should be played; on the verge of death, fresh from tragedy and ripe for interpretation. They'll Only Miss You When You Leave doesn't read like a happy record and even at its chirpiest, you can't help but wonder what is wrong with these people. Maybe it's that feeling of being overwhelmed that makes Carissa so weird and if that's the case, it almost seems justifiable because how long can one write songs like, "They'll Only Miss You When You Leave?" Mesmerizing, pastoral, gut wrenching and all consuming, They'll Only Miss You When You Leave is a great round up of songs that are in dire need of psychological help. While this record is thoroughly entertaining, I would almost be willing to pay Carissa's Weird to bust out a pop song proper. Until then, I'll sit in a dark room and listen to the stirring emotions that make up They'll Only Miss You When You Leave.