A year on, Poets & Pornstars self titled debut album gets a welcome relaunch. In the circumstances it's worth taking another look, especially for those who missed it first time round. The album comes with a fabulously provocative cover, encapsulating the band's musical mix of swampy, sensual, soulful, sleazy southern flavoured rock.
This debut, (which grew out of a four song EP) contains an apparently unassuming bunch of songs, driven by spare, dry riffs, fired up by mainman Hal Ozsan's lived in vocals.
It smoulders like the Black Crowes at their smokiest, and it's as LA authentic as Gilby Clarke's 'Pawnshop Guitars' at its multi ethnic best.
But all the Sunset Strip baggage accumulated by these genres over the piece has been gleefully jettisoned by P&P. The band's music is very effectively stripped back to the barebones, only adding an emphatic layer of guitars / vocals / percussion when a key moment in a song is reached or a hook is cast.
And it works like a dream.
'Get Your Kicks' and '
My Devil's Song' get down n'dirty with a spartan, knowing vibe, while
'Strange', informed by a distant punk ethic, sails as close to pop as this album gets.
Ballad
'In The Dark' is immense. A shotgun marriage of beguiling melody, bluesy stylings and a soaring, crashing chorus.
'War On Gravity' and '
Partners In Crime', full of cool harmonies, pop hooks and big guitars, bend the band's innovative soul / sleaze template that little bit further out of shape, drawing comparisons with Guns'N'Roses charismatic entry into the rock mainstream all those years ago.
'Spy Vs Spy's verse promises a lot more than the chorus ultimately delivers, but is redeemed by mesmerising axework. Second ballad, '
Earthman' positively pulses with humanity. Ozsan's spine tingling vocal, suffused with raw emotion, pushes it up into the numero uno position as the album's standout track, no danger.
Poets And Pornstars' have delivered a magnificent debut. Get over to
MySpace and find out for yourself.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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