Juanita Stein: Until The Lights Fade (Nude)

 |   |  <1 min read

Cool
Juanita Stein: Until The Lights Fade (Nude)

On this, the second album under her own name in as many years, the former singer-guitarist in ex-Australia, London-based alt-rockers Howling Bells continues here affection for Americana rock, nods towards Patti Smith directness and Chrissie Hynde-inflected pop-rock (both collide on Forgiver written with Brandon Flowers of the Killers) with convincing swagger.

There are smatterings of tender Spectorish/Fifties-influences pop here too (In Your Hands) given extra guitar muscle, edgy folkadelic rock (Fast Lane) and almost everywhere assertions of self-confidence wrapped in music influences by widescreen alt-country. (It was recorded in Austin with Stuart Silkes who has done the deed for Cat Power and the White Stripes).

Cool at the midpoint is cracker which opens as a chipping little ballad and works itself up into a lather of fury and guitar pyrotechnics, and right at the end French Film seems to aim for the midpoint between Roy Orbison balladry and the Shangri-Las tenderness.

This is an enjoyable but ultimately undistinguished collection where moments leap out rather than full songs, and there mere fact you might hear influences rather than Juanita Stein tells you she might be well on her way, but not quite there yet as an individual and identifiable singer/writer.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Yellow Ostrich: Cosmos (Barsuk/Southbound)

Although taking its title from Carl Sagan's 80s television series about the universe, the cosmological and astral references are musically few on this electronica-cum-alt.rock album by the... > Read more

Mavis Staples: One True Vine (Anti)

Mavis Staples: One True Vine (Anti)

The great Mavis Staples – now 74 – has been immersed deep in the spiritual waters, and therefore has more to draw on, than most singers. She was a child of the church and well... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

EPs by Shani.O

EPs by Shani.O

With so many CDs commanding and demanding attention Elsewhere will run this occasional column by the informed and opinionated Shani.O. She will scoop up some of those many EP releases, in... > Read more

SOPHIA SCARLET AND OTHER PACIFIC WRITINGS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON reviewed (2008)

SOPHIA SCARLET AND OTHER PACIFIC WRITINGS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON reviewed (2008)

When Robert Louis Stevenson died at 44 in his Samoan home, half a world away from his birthplace of Edinburgh, he left a remarkably diverse body of work. In fewer than two decades he turned out... > Read more