The Moaners
Dark Snack
»
The Moaners
Dark Snack
Yep Roc, 2005
RiYL: The Black Keys, The Breeders, Liz Phair |
The Black Keys + x = The White Stripes
We’ll refer to the glossary before diving into the higher math. The Black Keys are a duo out of Akron, Ohio, that’s enjoyed scads of favorable press over the last few years for their punishing blues riffs and authentically thrilling raspy vocals. The White Stripes probably need less of an introduction: most everyone should be familiar with the chart-topping hijinks of Jack White and his sister/ex-wife Meg, what with their monochromatic outfits, Zellweger dating, and power-chord stairways to heaven.
Onto the calculations…let’s see, we subtract a Black Keys from both sides, and then on the right-hand side of the equation we’re left with a little bit of blues, a whole lot of garage rock, snappy duds, and some anemic female vocals. I think x = The Moaners. Jackpot!
Was this whole exercise a gender-based oversimplification? Well, yes. The Moaners are both female, the Keys are both male, the Stripes one of each. But that’s not the whole picture. Dark Snack, the Moaners’ vaguely threatening-sounding debut album, shares the Keys’ blues sensibilities, the Stripes’ punky swagger and the stripped-down, lo-fi intensity of both bands. Plus, the Moaners look pretty cool in their bug-eyed shades.
That’s lofty company for a debut album, for sure, but Dark Snack mostly lives up to the comparisons. Frontwoman Melissa Swingle’s not-always-in-tune guitar crunches riffs (“Heart Attack”) and wrings out pained, slow blues (“Hard Times”) with equal ease. Drummer Laura King bangs away with noise and precision, reaching a frenetic peak at the close of “Oh Cristy”. There are only two Moaners, but the sound is never thin or weak, a testament to the players’ creativity and personality and to producer Rick Miller’s skill with a soundboard.
Sadly, Dark Snack channels the White Stripes in another way. The Stripes don’t let drummer Meg sing very much, and with good reason. Her voice is flat, thin, and characterless. Swingle’s voice, sadly, is in the same category, and it’s on every song. No one ever said rock stars need to sound like operatic virtuosos, but Swingle’s perpetually flat growl detracts from the otherwise compelling mix. Her try at a less-ambitious spoken-word motif does work well on the upbeat “Too Many People,” a good track that also boasts a Crazy Horse-style guitar solo. “Terrier” is less of a complete success, a song whose hostile tough-bitch lyrics (“you’re no great dane, you’re a terrier”) only barely make Swingle’s droning listenable. At the low end of the spectrum is “Paradise Club,” inexplicably sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun” and well-nigh horrible.
Despite all that, Dark Snack is a good album, filled with driving and entertaining rockers. Its short instrumental coda, “Chasing the Moon,” is a sign that the Moaners might explore other, less direct, genres on their next offering. If they keep the same energy and attitude, it’ll be a success.
JEFF GRAY | Jeff Gray used to be an important mover and shaker in Chicago, but gave all that up to live on a beach in rural Hawaii. You'll notice him if you're there, he's the one who's very tall and a little bit sunburned. His musical tastes tend towards the mainstream -- Phish, Radiohead, The Strokes -- but he'll argue to the death that those bands are mainstream because they're 100% awesome. Jeff's always on the lookout for the next great pop song, tidbits about Michigan football, and 80's action movies on cable.