Search - Volumizer :: Gaga for Gigi

Gaga for Gigi answers the question "Where do old punks go after they settle down?" In the case of these former members of seminal Vancouver bands the Dishrags, Pointed Sticks, and UJ3RK5, it's on to better and catchier things with a new group called Volumizer. The one newcomer, singer Shannon Oksanen, has a fine rock & roll voice, and she snarls lines like "There's a line at the supermarket / But you butt right in" as if the world owed her a cake just for being born. Former Pointed Stick Bill Napier-Hemy, visual artist and former UJ3RK5-er Rodney Graham, and ex-Dishrag Jade Blade add a wall of crunchy, tasty guitar, while New Pornographer John Collins makes everything sound crisp and fresh. Not all the songs are quite as hooky as the opening number, "I Promise, Thomas," but the pleasures of the band's sound and Blade's economical, sharp songwriting mean there's rarely a dull moment. For fans of female-fronted bands from Blondie to Veruca Salt, Gaga for Gigi is pure ear candy. --Shawn Conner