The trick to making excellent art that effortlessly crosses genres? Ample amounts of talent and heaps of self-awareness. Musicians and fans have more access to more music than ever before. We might all be artistic polyglots, but it doesn’t mean that people can fuse sounds together willy-nilly. And just because a band has the skills to merge styles doesn’t mean they should. It takes purpose, intention, and several healthy doses of respect.
Which is exactly why Jolie Laide rules.
This Seattle-based quartet creates an earthy and eclectic brand of rock that combines equal parts country, psych, spaghetti westerns, and post-punk. Creatures, the band’s second album, reveals a keen appreciation for their roots and influences, from the songwriting to the instrumentation, arrangements, and beyond. By allowing the music room to breathe, this ten-song album neither feels forced nor paint-by-numbers. Released on Victory Pool Music, the group delivers a snarling mélange of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Neko Case, and Morricone.
The sublime dual lead vocals from Nina Nastasia and Clinton St. John overflow with magical chemistry. Her high alto dances with abandon as his brash baritone bleats with urgency. They find powerful musical support from Jeff Macleod and Morgan Greenwood, especially the sonorous drumming, spectral slide guitar, and electronic elements reminiscent of trip-hop. Together, the band conjure up images of forlorn travelers exploring the empty roads and abandoned vistas of the American Southwest.
And that’s before the lyrics of Jolie Laide double-down on the post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
“Cheyenne” opens the album with a haunting refrain: “There is no rescue ship / We stopped calling out for it / Better to hate what we have here.” With “Holly,” we hear the pleading of a broken soul as they call out to the titular character: “Was it a light that you couldn’t let in? / Then it grabbed you when the light got dim / I’ve got my omen stance.” On “Wharwolf,” our woebegone narrators compare themselves to a misunderstood magical being: “Because all werewolves we scratch the pole / Born to be charmed born to claw born to burn.” The penultimate track, “Old Collapser,” we catch glimpses of Holly’s eventual fate: “Have you seen enough bullets and blood give me some love / I have seen nothing nothing at all / I’ve not seen Holly’s ghost in the killers green.”
Packed with references to nature, drugs, sin, loss, and repentance, Creatures delivers exquisitely painful character studies. Jolie Laide rises above that of its peers by creating brooding story songs that pay homage through reinvention. These are no mere murder ballads. They are earnest songs about believable characters who face the consequences of their unfortunate choices. The band refuses to rest on stylistic laurels or be genre pirates. Instead, they are deliberate about their artistic decisions as they explore the furthest corners of their musical potential.