Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers
Ume Sour
Darla
I’ve jokingly said before that you don’t really need to travel the stars to find alien culture; you can just go to Japan. They seem to find Western culture as incomprehensible, which may explain why The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers do what they do. The Sisterhood are a duo of casual ex-pats, Jeannine Durfee and Robert Christiansen, and are actually more of a marriagehood. Ume Sour was recorded on a two-year tenure as English teachers in Japan, and the disjointed influences often result in genuinely unique moments such as “Ne-ne Ami-chan,” which sounds like The Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Heavenly trading licks. “Tottori Made” is a hokey little ditty, with an angelic female harmony and a crisp guitar lead, while “Lunchdate” smooths a lilting melody on top of a somewhat cartoonish beat and solemn bass, with a classy little bridge thrown in. A very engaging record.
Darla Records, 3460 Potter Lane, Sacramento, CA 95821; http://www.darla.com