Solex
Pick Up
»
Solex
Pick Up
Matador, 1999
RiYL: Bjork, Liz Phair, Buffalo Daughter, Portishead |
That's just what she did, after adopting the name Solex and acquiring a cheap, old sampler. The result, Solex Vs. The Hitmeister, succeeded in finding value from music of questionable origin, and won plenty of admirers when it was released on Matador Records in 1998.
For Pick Up, Esselink has upgraded her equipment and found a new goldmine of inspiration: recordings she made at live shows. Pick Up also has more of a collaborative feel that Hitmeister, featuring guitar and clarinet as well as live drums on all tracks. All of these additions have helped to focus Esselink's somewhat scattershot "songwriting," bring at least some coherence to these 14 self-described imaginary conversations.
Still, there's plenty of variety, often within the same track. "Snappy & Cocky" bisects a dark, jazzy torch song with off-tempo drumming and far-away wails, while "Dark At 12 O'Clock" alternates between slick dance beats and Madonna-style synth pop as kazoos and horns whiz by. The more "live"-sounding songs are some of the best, particularly the snappy, Liz Phair-ish "Athens -- Ohio" and "Another Tune Like 'Not Fade Away,'" which recalls Bjork's unconventional vocal phrasing and subtle rhythmic mastery.
Esselink's pretty voice rescues some of the musically boring tracks ("Five Star Shamberg"), and indeed Pick Up could probably have been trimmed by a few cuts. Even so, there's something very beguiling about how she has synthesized so many disparate elements into a greater whole.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"