Albums

Spinnerette - Spinnerette

Craig Broad 21/06/2009

Rating: 2.5/5

Six years have passed since the release of the successful Coral Fang from the Distillers and despite the odd news article about her personal life and the occasional song feature, Brody Dalle has been nowhere to be seen. Spinnerette, will come with a sigh of relief for Distillers fans who may have thought that Dalle would never return to music after her marriage to Josh Homme of QOTSA. The debut self titled album, released through Hassle, comes shortly after the release of digital EP Ghetto Love through their website and showcases a departure from what Dalle fans may have come to expect from her previously.

Is Spinnerette a change for the better though, has Dalle floated along with the times or has she created an irrelevant band destined to anger previous fans of her work?

Opening track, Ghetto Love dispels any negative thoughts that you may be having about Spinnerette and immediately gains your attention. It is obvious that Dalle has been influenced by partner, Homme's band as Ghetto Love fills your ears with a fuzzy bass tone, an understated pop hook that can be found on more recent QOTSA work portrayed through Dalle's vocals and as expected, an absolutely killer guitar sound.

The rest of the album somehow seems to lose the immediate sound that Ghetto Love created and you can't help but feel like something is missing. Other songs contain the dirty bass sound, the pop hooks and great guitar effects but you can feel yourself willing the song to be over so you can see if the next will make an impression and this can often make songs either sound too much alike or like they aren't good enough to be on this album. It's not that the rest of the album is bitterly terrible, it's just that Ghetto Love is such a great start to the album that it has been impossible for Spinnerette to compete with their own song.

Distillers fans may be unhappy with Spinnerette, a far more melodic, poppier creation than anything Dalle has done previously and while you have to celebrate an artist taking a step back and coming back with a monster far different from the last, there isn't much here that you couldn't find done to a higher standard on a QOTSA album.

http://www.spinnerettemusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/spinnerettemusic