Rosie Tucker - Sucker Supreme (Epitaph Records)
Release Date: Out Now
I usually have a rule that I need to have heard two tracks
by an artist to consider reviewing the album. This extends from my CD buying
days when I had to have heard (and liked) two or three tracks before committing
to the purchase of the album and has always stood me in good stead. However, based
on Rosie Tucker’s recent single ‘Habanero’, I’ve broken my golden rule to check
out her new album ‘Sucker Supreme’ and, dear reader, I have been rewarded
richly.
The album opens with ‘Barbara Ann’, a song full of driving
riffs and drenched in West Coast slacker vibes as the grunge-pop aesthetic
shines through with the emphasis on melodies and power in that order. The
aforementioned ‘Habanero’ is up next, reminding me graciously why I took a
chance on this album with its soft but achingly happy vibes making me smile the
kind of smile that makes your jaw ache and your saliva glands sting. ‘Different
Animals’ is a different beast that feels more like Regina Spektor with its
meandering vocal melody and sparse instrumentation before ‘Trim’ brings the
energy back up with a lo-fi acoustic riff that wafts out from a nearby window
on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
That grunge-pop vibe is back on ‘For Sale: Ford Pinto’,
painting Dandy Warhol-esque portraits for us to feast on as Tucker’s vocal
switches from soft and demure to frustrated and forceful with the flick of a
wrist. There are some Beatlesy melodies in ‘Ambrosia’ that makes the song feel
almost homesick on a rainy Tuesday morning while ‘Arrow’ comes thick and fast
like a stream of consciousness rattled out atop a deftly plucked acoustic
guitar before building to a swirl of static crescendo. ‘Creature of Slime’ is a
brief and woozy interlude that leads in to ‘Brand New Beast’, a theatrical and
criminally short slice of pop-rock that sounds like Courtney Love collaborating
with Lady Gaga.
The Zappa inspired guitars on ‘Airport’ will have you
struggling to keep up before it settles in to a Ben Folds-esque story telling
song but the moodiness of the bassline on ‘Dog’ shifts the energy yet again to something
more introspective and sweeping. There’s another short interlude on ‘Clinic
Poem’ which is a lo-fi recording sprinkled with a little magic the takes us to penultimate tune ‘Peach
Pit’ which feels like Lana Del Rey experimenting with a guitar and the band
filling in the gaps. The album closes with ‘How Was It?’ which is how I imagine
the elevator music on the way up to heaven to sound – disorientating but
genuinely interested in how your life was. Rosie Tucker is one of those
exciting artists that you can’t pigeon hole or tie down to a single genre which
makes this album a real experience to be cherished. My advice is to clear some
time to put this one on a loop, settle down with a cup of something warming and
just let the sounds, ideas and themes wash over you. This is nourishing music
for the head, heart and soul.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/rosietuckermusic
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