What happens when former members of the Wallflowers, Spacehog and Cibo Matto team up with a young, vivacious chanteuse? A band with a criss-cross of retro New York City rock, New Age roots and sophisticated, sexualized grit. Morningwood and their self-titled debut is a combination of tongue-in-cheek innuendos and in-your-face raw sexuality that is enjoyable, if light, fare.
Much of Morningwood's success hinges on the performance of front-lady Chantal Claret. Exuding a sassy sexuality that will break a boy's heart and the tenacity to kick him in the balls in the same fell swoop, Claret leaves listeners caught between the two extremes of sex kitten and ultimate bitch. Claret does the most with her abilities and comes up with a strength that at times goes overboard, in a way that most females in music today shy away from. She is far from being the next Karen O and her lyrics are absolutely nothing special, but bonus points to her for being tough and pretty at the same time in her performance.
The album is a sugar-coated pop affair tinged with gritty guitars, and it is a split whether to love it or hate it. Producer Gil Barlow (Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen) navigates the 11 tracks seamlessly between many divergent sounds from thrashing guitar rock to dance pop.
The album's single 'Nth Degree' has been catching radio's attention for the past few months with its infectious pep-rally spelling of the band's name. 'Jetsetter' is also catchy, with its balance between airy interludes, grit-filled vocals and crunching guitars that consume the track. But 'Babysitter' brings the dance factor of the album crashing to a halt with its creepy, sex-offender lyrics such as 'Can I crawl in bed with you? / I'll let you stay up real late / And do what you wanna do / If I can be a playmate.' Its criminal, sinister nature is only marginally offset by the fact that it is a female singing.
With 'Take your Clothes Off,' Morningwood gets back into the realm of proper adult affairs and brings everyone into the bedroom and under the sheets for a gender battle royale for who's to be on top. Cigarettes and smeared mascara from a boozy night are close at hand with the hand claps and battling of male-female vocals fighting to get the other naked first (a crowd favorite at live shows).
There is a lot of attraction for such aggressive, sexualized music. Too many bands in this genre of throwback rock fight too hard for obscure, hipster ethos in their lyrics. The pleasantry of Morningwood is that they are not caught up in existentialist pretension'they are purely trying to get the crowd moving with the less-than-serious aura that surrounds their songs. Perhaps Morningwood's release is an over-simplified abstraction of the underground world of New York City rock and sex (see 'Telivisor' and 'New York Girls'), but it is a far more exciting and sexy album than many other recent releases that have been put out, minus the sex-offender track. Morningwood can be sure of finding numbers of fans that would be ready to either rock out to them or go home with them and 'take off their clothes.'
