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The Harvey Girls :: The Biggest Book You'll Never Read
(ind, 2003)
Ambiguity has always been hard for my ears to gravitate towards.
And if you haven't noticed, I don't tend to make a huge fuss about lyrics, especially since most CDs don't come with them these days. However, in Lawrence's The Harvey Girls' latest EP, "The Biggest Book You'll Never Read", they've provided a miniature sheet of words to accompany the dense, folky haze of static keyboards and reverberating beats.
Opening with a bassline and a hip-hop backbeat, Missy Morrisey and D.J. Digdug of The Harvey Girls keep things simple with the mainly instrumental "You're a Real Jackass," featuring some cleverly placed vocal samples.
On "Blue and Green Lawnmower." they work an extended breakbeat underneath a constantly rolling bassline, fake trumpets, and warm vocals about "living in a dream house ... where words don't get in the way." With a strong melody the song doesn't come near wearing out its welcome even after the five-minute point.
While the next three tracks are solid, they are not nearly as captivating as the aformentioned "Lawnmower."
"Someone Who Looks a Lot Like Them" continues the distant lyrical content about a boy and girl bound by a fixation with disease for different reasons. They also seem to be bound by time as well as they "listen for ghosts in the other room." The song itself is a gentle, pulsating strum of an acoustic guitar that find Morrisey and Digdug sharing vocal duties.
The closing track, "Rose of Sharon," features Morrisey singing a somewhat familiar melody (not a bad thing) over an electric piano and more hazy keys. It features one of "Read's" highlights as the instruments fade and creep back in while Morrisey sings "I want to be your rose of sharon/Your song so low and sweet/The white and perfect flower you never cease to sing" before the EP comes to a close.
Falling somewhere between Stephen Malkmus and Stereolab, The Harvey Girls have created an EP with a number of interesting ideas that make you want to listen. By keeping things short, they've created enough space for what could be a compelling follow-up.
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