He said, she said: Dark dance tunes at HOB
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
November 16, 2006
When you get down to it, there are several ways to craft a rock song: from a female perspective (Tori Amos), from the male angle (AC/DC) or via pure androgyne (Ziggy Stardust).
Turn the dial to dark dance tunes and you'll often hear the intriguing pairing of Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves and Los Angeles duo She Wants Revenge, both appearing at downtown's House of Blues Tuesday. Individually, these groups bring that female-male yin-yang into sharp focus.
Led by the compelling female vocals of Andrea Zollo, PGMG represents the feminine half of the equation. Zollo sings on “Pyrte Pedetal, one of the standout songs from 2006 release “Elan Vital”: Your yarns were dipped in gold / I swallowed them whole / The real tragedy is that your act is just boring and old.
Rising out of the rainy Pacific Northwest, Pretty Girls Make Graves earned indie cred by mixing gritty guitar work with Zollo's beautiful singing on its 2002 debut “Good Health” (Lookout Records). The band moved to the Matador label and released its crowning achievement, “The New Romance,” in 2003, an album brimming with dark post-punk emotion.
After the underground success of “The New Romance,” original guitarist Nathan Thelen left the band to focus on his family and newborn child. So Zollo recruited her acupuncturist, Leona Marrs, to play keyboards and accordion. Marrs added more subtlety and texture to PGMG's 2006 offering “Elan Vital,” named after the teachings of Franch philosopher Henri Bergson.
Translated as “vital force,” the record reveals the band's softer side complete with bittersweet lyrics and complicated instrumental assemblage.
Turn the page to She Wants Revenge.
Sparked by Justin Warfield's deadpan Ian Curtis-inspired vocals and stripped-down moody keyboard riffs by Adam Bravin, the duo rips out its collective heart and lays it down on the tracks.
Delving into the dark corner of the male mind, Warfield croons on “These Things,” from the group's self-titled 2006 album: Let's make a fast plan, watch it burn to the ground / I try to whisper, so no one figures it out / I'm not a bad man, I'm just overwhelmed / It's cause of these things, it's cause of these things.
Filled with longing and despair bordering on violence (“Tear You Apart”), Warfield and company tap into the sinister side of the male psyche. The band has earned its detractors by using time-tested song formats harkening back to the 1980s scene in Manchester, England. But the universal truths of the lyrics and the infectious sing-along choruses transcend any mimicry that might be going on.
In the tandem's set during last year's Street Scene at Qualcomm Stadium, Warfield complained about performing in a steaming parking lot in broad daylight. They should find comfort in the dark confines of House of Blues alongside a suitable foil in Pretty Girls Make Graves.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
