Original Sinners,
Original SinnersExene Cervenka is a unique individual in the world of punk rock. She is one of the only true female icons this scene has. For those of you that don’t know, Exene was a founding member, and front woman, of seminal L.A. punk band X. After releasing a number of classic albums X split in 1993, following the fall out from the divorce of Exene and bassist John Doe. Since that time Exene has explored various musical avenues, none of which have come close to matching X. Now Exene is back once more with new band Original Sinners, a five piece that also features two ex members of The Distillers, Kim Chi and Mat Young. This is their self-titled debut offering, released through Nitro records.
‘Original Sinners’ features thirteen songs compressed into just over half an hour of music. In the press release for the album Exene said of the band “it combines aspects of X, the Knitters, the country stuff, the love songs, and all the music I have wanted to do – everything is mixed in together.” Herein lies the problem with the album. Whereas on occasions the Original Sinners do indeed sound like spiritual descendents of X, for the most part the band are just trying to blend too many styles together.
The album does in fact start in fine fashion. ‘Birds & Bees’ is a great little opener that showcases Exene’s unique vocals, combined with great drumming and guitar riffs with a definite country twang. Another strong point of the album is the reintroduction of the vocal harmonies that where such a part of X. Interestingly though, this time the harmonies are done with another female voice, that of Kim Chi, as opposed to the male vocals of John Doe. This effect is used most strikingly on ‘Bringin’ Me Down’ and ‘One Too Many Lies.’
For the most part though the album is bland, particularly when the country aspects are brought to the forefront, and the songs are slowed down, like on ‘Aluminum Flavored Honey’ and ‘Whiskey For Supper’. On other occasions the attempts to blend a number of musical styles together leads to a further worsening of song quality. It becomes all too apparent that, although this is a very talented group of musicians, they are just trying to do too much.
Ultimately ‘Original Sinners’ is a disappointing release. There are a couple of strong tracks on the album, and Exene’s lyrics are as good as ever. However, the album as a whole just doesn’t gel. It feels like a number of albums put together, because of the use of so many contrasting musical styles. There is little doubt that long time devotees of Exene will snap this up, but there isn’t much here to grab the attention of most of the punk rock buying public.
Mark
» Buy On Amazon
