Lucid Owls

Women are, were, a Canadian rock band. I'm not going to lump them into something indie. Cause it's better than something pitchfork would cry about. I think they covered them, but beside the point. Women released probably, in my opinion, one of the greatest albums of the last decade, their S/T debut, in the fall of 2008. I was really just starting to get a grasp on 'different' types of music and i heard this on WNYU (whose new afternoon show is classic, displaying a large array of different types of new and somewhat popular underground music as a whole.) This was their number one album for the week on their charts page on the website and i began hearing songs by them overlooking (i imagine it was black rice.) I think i tried to shy away cause i heard a shins reference by one of the hosts. That all changed when I heard 'Shaking Hand'. It was single-handedly one of the greatest music memories ever. I had seriously never heard anything like that. And I began to think 'is this what everything underground is like?' And i can answer that question now: no.

The chiming and skittering guitar lines build and pulsate with a rabbis and epilectic shock. And then the climax explodes and releases a air of excitement and drama. It was so serious and haunting, but so refreshing.

And I was lucky. I had stumbled upon something that the so called 'indie' world doesn't find every once and a while. An honest to god talented band that has a singular vision and creative force that other don't have. When buying the record I started to realize with multiple listens that this wasn't some pushover hype band. They were actually something. They had created a masterpiece. Something indebted to it's past but easily in touch with today. It was horrifying and frightening in songs like Lawncare, poppy in black rice and a complete force of nature through the last part of the album.

Their guitar lines were so singular. The drumming distorted and hypnotic. The noise otherworld. The melancholy and anger were staggering. Utterly raw. This was a gem.

In 2010, they released Public Strain. I was hesitant. I was worried. Especially how much I enjoyed the first album. And i was disappointed. It wasn't necessarily as instant or 'catchy' or jagged in the way their first album was. However recently I sprawled over and remembered the record. How i was going to buy it on vinyl to give it a better listen...'blah blah'. And you know what? IT's pretty good. Their sound is focussed in a different direction but still sounds like them. And it's sharp and distraught. But in other ways. Darker in other ways. To say it's shadowy would probably be an apt description. It almost resembles some Sonic Youth at it's most grim (go back like bad moon rising/evol) The music looks like the cover. It's a mentally insane person who's that sweet friend or brother that you've loved your entire life, but now is slowly turning psycho in the dead nights of freezing January.

I still am not as wild about this thing as much as their last record; maybe because their last was just so short and so perfect the way it was. Yet Public Strain is growing and and much stronger musical statement, showcasing their creative apex and getting ready for some inspired statement that I am hoping will come...

I say hope because the band is rumored to have broken up after a fight onstage. This would be a shame considering how idealistic and original this band is. Compared to other artists in the indie pitchfork machine, this is something that stands out. Women are incredible songsmiths and have been overlooked to an extreme. I'm hoping that they will receive their much deserved attention, whether it be with their next record, or tens years down the line when it's reissued and realized for it's brilliance. I'm hyping this up, but both Women and Public Strain are majestic albums that shroud and haunt it's listener with a nerve.