Miss Derringer - Winter Hill (Album Review)

Miss Derringer, a rock band heavily influenced by outlaw country and 60s girl pop, is fronted by singer and underground artist Liz McGrath and her husband Morgan Slade. Their third album Winter Hill releases next week on Triple X Records.

From start to finish, the album maintains a vintage garage sound, pouring random proportions of pop, punk, country and rock into each song. There are many tracks that stand out, but together they form a devastating album.

Winter Hill begins with an opening theme, “Click Click (Bang Bang)”, which sounds like it could open a big budget Western film as easily as a concert. The style changes a bit towards girl punk in the next track, “Bulletproof Heart”, a great rock song but not too memorable.

After those first two, come three smashing tracks in a row. The lead promotional track for the album, “Black Tears”, stands out with Liz's girl pop vocals over surf guitar and drums. Next up is “Don't Leave Me Now”, a mellower ballad that sways soulfully as Liz channels Diana Ross, with the band backing her.

The album as a whole is stunning, but the standout track is definitely “Death By Desire”. The reverberating guitar melody echoes Liz's vocals, sweeping across the muted rhythm guitar. The drums fill all the right spots, while the bass bolsters them all.

Without warning, the band makes a three-minute detour to straight up rockabilly in “All the Pretty Things”. The lyrics seem a raucous backlash to the romance of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' “Please Read the Letter”.

The band proves that they can do more than ingeniously mash genres together in “Tell Me So” and “Heartbreaks & Razorblades”. When all the fillings of pop, country, punk and soul are scooped out, there is still a sweet rock & roll crust underneath. The drum-led “Drop Shot Dead” is fast and dance-inducing—the preceding few tracks often fade to the background of my daydreaming, but this one snaps me back into focus every time.

Winter Hill closes with “Mausoleum”, a dark song that brings the album to a dramatic climax. This is the only song on the album with an air of epic beauty.

The album holds a strong focus on the electric guitars and Liz's vocals, moulding them around more 60s music genres than anyone should ever be able to mix at once, but they do it skillfully. Miss Derringer describes it as “the soundtrack to a 1960's Irish Mob War”. After a few listens of the 30-minute album, pay attention to the drums. The band seemingly tries to torment him with their relentless genre-shifting, but he flawlessly takes it in step, finding the matching beat for every song.

Among all the hidden gems I've uncovered in the recent surge of faux vintage music, Miss Derringer is the only one that has pushed beyond one or two fun, earcatching songs and created a superb album that can be savored in its entirety.

8.9/10

MUSIC & VIDEOS

Miss Derringer - Death By Desire
Download MP3 (zshare) (YSI)

Miss Derringer - Black Tears
Download MP3 (zshare) (YSI) or watch the video below



SHOPS
Digital: eMusic | Amazon MP3 US | Amazon MP3 UK | iTunes
CD: Interpunk | CD Universe | Amazon US
The official release date is July 14, but some of these shops are already selling it.

TOUR
Miss Derringer is touring the west coast of North America with Girl in a Coma this month.

2009: The Second Half of a Spectacular Year

I was going to write a list of the best songs in the first half of 2009, but PMA's Top 50 article covered them all. Here's what I'm looking forward to in the second half of this amazing year of music.

July 6 Bombay Bicycle Club
Bombay Bicycle Club is fronted by a singer with the voice of a mythical golem, made of twigs, leaves and stones. After two singles that sound nothing alike, the English rock band releases their highly anticipated debut full-length, I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose.
Download “Always Like This” (zshare) (YSI)
Pre-order from Recordstore

July 14 Miss Derringer
Vintage pop with a strong girl-punk influence. Her upcoming album Winter Hill is simply stunning.
Download “Black Tears” (zshare) (YSI)
Pre-order from CD Universe

July 20/September Kid British
The UK garage/hip-hop group split their debut It Was This or Football, to release it in two parts this summer. A terrible idea if you consider their international fans who will have to pay more than standard album price for each half. The album is one of my favourites this year, but I can't justify buying it.
Download “Lost in London” (zshare) (YSI)
Pre-order the first half from Recordstore
Pre-order the second half from Recordstore

August 17 Tinchy Stryder
Tinchy Stryder's last single “Number 1” was a number 1 hit in the UK this year, and deservingly so. Also worth mentioning is his previous single, “Take Me Back”, whose Sunship remix took top billing when the single was re-released. His album Catch 22 releases next month.
Download “Number 1 (Remix) (feat. N-Dubz & Kano)” (zshare) (YSI)
Pre-order from Amazon UK

August 24 Imogen Heap
Pushing the boundaries of pop music into unimaginable brilliance, Imogen Heap is no ordinary pop singer. She writes, produces and mixes her own music, having dreamt up some of the most innovative and memorable songs of the decade. Her third album Ellipse is set to release next month, though there's been a lack of buzz about it so far.
Listen to “Not Now But Soon” on YouTube
Pre-order from Amazon US/Amazon UK

August 25 Fun.
Indie pop circus from Nettwerk Records, their debut single suggests that Fun. is going to be laughing, drinking, smoking and singing their way to the peak of New York's indie scene. Their forthcoming full-length is aptly titled Aim & Ignite.
Download “At Least I'm Not As Sad As I Used to Be” (zshare) (YSI)

September Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx floored us all with the breathtaking disco sound of “Raindrops” that could easily take them from B-list to juggernaut status this summer. The album Scars is due in September.
Download “Raindrops” (zshare) (YSI)

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Amy Winehouse handpicked The Asteroids Galaxy Tour for an opening slot of a concert, then Steve Jobs handpicked them for an iPod Touch commercial last year. The Danish psychedelic pop band, fronted by the charming and adorable Mette Lindberg, has been making waves in Europe for months now, playing sold-out shows with top billing. Their album has been delayed several times, now tentatively scheduled for autumn, after their summer tour with Katy Perry.
Download “The Sun Ain't Shining No More” (zshare) (YSI)

The Very Best
The highly anticipated debut album from The Very Best, the London pairing of club DJs Radioclit and afro-pop singer Esau Mwamwaya, releases this autumn. No matter how much mainstream popularity it lacks, everybody loves African music. This album is sure to be massive in any country where the people love to dance.
Download “Warm Heart of Africa” (zshare) (YSI)

Troy This
Troy This, rumoured to be the secret lovechild of David Bowie and Janet Jackson, is an enigma. Liquid pop music runs through his veins. His mysterious origin found him recording a song with Swedish pop queen Robyn, resulting in a perfectly matched duet with remarkable chemistry. He's working on a pop masterpiece that we hope will be revealed in late 2009.
Download “American Dream (Happy Song) (feat. Robyn)” (zshare) (YSI)
Download “One Day” (zshare) (YSI)

Dragonette
Martina Sorbara and her Dragonette boys released their electro rock single “Fixin to Thrill” earlier this year. Then, last week, they surprised us with “Boys & Girls”, a heavy dance track produced by Martin Solveig. The album Fixin to Thrill is due in autumn of 2009.
Download “Boys & Girls” (zshare) (YSI)

Super Viral Brothers
This spring, Super Viral Brothers came to us from Stockholm without warning, with their nonsensical underground hit “Hot Chocolate + Polar Bear Rug”. The song sounds like Dangermouse, Cee-Lo and some magical white electro powder. Their debut album Wires in Love is coming soon.
Download “Hot Chocolate + Polar Bear Rug (Dada Life Remix)” (zshare) (YSI)

Those are just 12 of the fantastic albums due in the last half of 2009. What are you looking forward to?

Free Energy - Dream City

Lately there have been so many vintage pop bands appearing in a magical burst of shiny melodies, but they often fade away just as quickly. Free Energy's new tune “Dream City” will hook you with the handclaps, the na-na-na's, but most of all, the singer with the rockabilly punk voice that's uncharacteristically calm and smooth. They've just caught the eye of DFA Records and they're working on their debut album, so let's hope they stick around awhile.

Free Energy - Dream City
Download MP3 (zshare) (YSI) or Listen on MySpace

MORE INFO
Free Energy on MySpace | DFA Records