Album of the month :
April 2004
JOMI MASSAGE (DK) :
" Aloud" ( Morningside)
" Our music is dealing with extremes" says Signe Hoirup Wille-Jorgensen, the front-lady of Jomi Massage, and she gives proof of it: you won't find much space for compromises and half-measures on this stunning first album.
On vacation from her regular band Speaker Bite Me, Signe wanted to do a music of her own, something that would really resemble her. With this aim in view, she recruited Luke Sutherland ( Long Finn Killie, Bows) on guitar and violin, and Emil Landgreen ( Speaker Bite Me) on drums, then they tested these songs live for a couple of years before finally cutting them on CD. Jomi Massage's gigs are rarely twice the same : one day it's all noise, fury and electricity, while the other it's all silk and velvet, backed with cellos and violas. But on record, the band has opted for a cutting, unadorned treatment. Clearly, the music of Jomi Massage has little chance of being praised for its analgesic virtues. Violently contrasted, harsh, incisive, dour sometimes, it is meant to disrupt and disturb. Even in its quietest moments, there is still a pent-up energy, an underlying tension that threatens to explode into your face in a split second. The connection with contemporary female artists like P.J. Harvey or Shannon Wright seems obvious, but Jomi Massage have also many things in common with those radical English bands from the early 80's, Gang Of Four, The Pop Group or Au Pairs. As a sign of the times, the message has changed, dropping ready-made slogans for a more personal and heartfelt approach. But the music has the same abrasive, uncompromizing side, and the anger is still here. It bursts suddenly in electric shocks on I See Those Who Died, hammers violently in Just Keep Going Straight, and feeds the wall-of-guitar racket of For The Ladies, which finds Signe roaring and screaming like never since her Murmur days, almost ten years ago. Amidst these burling sonic assaults, the delicate architecture of Is There A Light, the mesmerizing Satie-like tune of Undressing Aloud, or the floating At Least there Is Always come to bring an essential breathing pause. These two distinctive aspects of the music of Jomi Massage are like the two sides of a coin: one couldn't exist without the other. But the mix of the calm and the furious - extremes always - produces an arresting effect that, added to the angular songs of Signe, her strong personality, and the tight-knit band behind her, makes " Aloud" one of the most impressive debut albums you'll be likely to hear this year.
Get the CD, and catch the band on stage if you can: they're even better live.
Read our interview with Signe here soon.
LABEL:
http://www.morningsiderecords.dk