Holy Moly this is good. A really No-Fi aesthetic is the order of the day. Karen baring her soul in a forlorn heartbroken manner. Nearly all the “tunes” clock in at under 2 minutes. Crush Songs is not in the slightest bit tedious, the lovely seemingly unfinished recordings gives the feel that we are sitting outside her bedroom door while she bleeds her lovelorn lyrics out over simple guitar chords.

The album is released on Julian Casablanca’s Cult label and is a million years away from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but why not?

Fifteen offerings, downbeat and often slightly philosophical, but don’t for a moment go dreaming that Karen O has gone soft on us. On ‘Rapt’ she screams “Love’s a fucking bitch” as she squeals and moans her way from tune to tune with the odd harmony vocal, scratchy guitar and she even finds time to poke a finger in the eye of Michael Jackson on ‘King’. ‘Body’ is almost a folk song but just for a brief moment her screaming Banshee pops up to remind us what lurks beneath!

Fragile, raw intimate and cool as fuck.

Pass the whisky brother.

Words: Keefy

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