Big Print (label)
30 November 2009 (released)
08 December 2009
Brooklyn-based, but certainly giving no impression at all that they are urbanites, Christy and Emily have, in their third record Supernatural, made something of of earth-defying tenderness and fragile beauty.
From the ramshakle outset, the record sounds as though it’s about to fall appart at the seams, shatter, or explode as the duo work their way through songs that are perfectly written (‘Golden Rings’ could be a Beatles cover), but undermined by a see-saw of improvised sound, dischord and randomness. ‘Lover’s Talk’, another example, driven by Christy Edward’s rudimentary electric guitar, is as heartbreaking as it is shot through with a messed up haze of confusion. On ‘Nightingale’, however, you get a relatively untainted taste of just how awesomely talented these folks are - and there is the crux of it: none of this is a mistake.
It seems simple, infantile even, but there’s just so much to soak up here. Quite honestly, I’ve not heard much as beguiling as this since I first heard Palace in about 1998.