Search - Sue Garner, Rick Brown :: Still

The joint musical vision of Sue Garner and Rick Brown has evolved through their bands Fish and Roses and Run On, fortified along the way by many alternate collaborations, including Garner's stint in the revisionist girl group the Shams. Together the two have forged a brand of experimental rock that has never omitted the art of writing a good song. Still is the most recent product of this fruitful 14-year partnership. Garner provides most of the lead vocals, guitar, bass, and a dash of violin. Her quietly compelling, bittersweet vocal style is leavened by a measure of country twang from her native Georgia. Guest Doug Weiselman's clarinet contributes an Eastern European flavor to several songs, while his occasional sax squawks evoke Brown's roots in New York's late-'70s "no-wave" scene. For this release, Brown mostly sets aside his robust drum-kit sound in favor of a layered backdrop built from rhythm machines, shakers, electronic loops, buzzes, and marimba. His somewhat ramshackle pile of equipment and the fact that the recordings were done in a variety of low-tech spaces before being pulled together in Chris Stamey's Modern Recording studio both contribute to the highly personal feel of the record without representing any compromise in fidelity. --Bob Bannister