Marnie Stern

Marnie Stern is seriously one of the sweetest musicians in the underground rock scene. She is all powerful in her playing, her voice, and spirit, all while staying incredibly humble. She channels all of this into some of the most aggressively positive self-help anthems you may ever hear. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it is very, very hard not to like Marnie Stern. I'm a little sad that she has been on a studio album hiatus since 2013 given that she currently serves as a member of Seth Myers' late night house band, but thankfully she does have a fairly consistent discography that I continue to get much enjoyment out of still to this day. Among them, her 2010 self-titled album is perhaps my favourite. The odd thing is that this album is perhaps her least fully realized album. It's of no fault of her own as the album's sessions were mysteriously lost before the mixing process began. What we are in fact hearing is a bounce of the tracks with very basic leveling. If you ask Marnie Stern, she would probably say she was quite bummed over the ordeal. Me however, I think it kind of works. Its rough and messy nature makes the more 'straightforward' rockin' tracks like Nothing Left and Her Confidence rage that much harder while the busier tracks like Female Guitar Players Are the New Black, For Ash, and Gimme are all the more thrilling.

The album kicks off with the emotional For Ash, a touching tribute to one of Stern's ex-boyfriends who sadly took their own life. "I want to be in your imminent elegant light" she sings over transcendental layers of triumphant guitar while Zach Hill shows the drum kit no mercy; showing off his signature fancy footwork on the bass drum. This track truly is bursting with light. The following track Nothing Left is stylistically much different, but just as much of a highlight. Another perplexing beat from Hill, squawking guitars, and bending wails from Stern make for a rock banger. A little later on, we have the track Gimme, a bright and colourful sugar rush, complete with guitars that sound off like sirens and a peppy drum beat.

Cinco de Mayo is a super interesting track and perhaps has the most interesting mix on the record all things considered. It begins with Marnie Stern's crazy guitar tapping, heavily reverbed to create this warm wash. Then when the song actually kicks in, all that reverb disappears and the song becomes super direct. Over the course of the song, that reverb comes in and out creating this cyclical sensation of floating away and being pulled back to earth. The chorus has one of Stern's most passionate cries and also has a great ascending, descending bassline. Getting towards the end of the album, Stern fits in one more rock rager. Her Confidence begins with this cacophonous wall of guitar and soon transitions into a really solid groove with lots of swagger coming from both Stern and Hill. The song, on two occasions, goes into these crazy sidebars that are a little noisy, a little disorienting, but very thrilling.

There are two songs towards the beginning of the record that are not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but do pale in comparison to the rest of the tracks here just a little bit. Perhaps if you didn't have Transparency Is the New Mystery and Risky Biz - the album's two biggest slow burns - back to back, then the album would have a slightly better flow. However, this is really just me being a nitpick. The truth is that this album has an infectiously positive energy at all times, making it really hard to be super critical. Throw on top of that Stern's insane shredding and Zach Hill being Zach Hill, and you have an amazing record.