February 13, 2010
Sugar Crush - Useless Beauty
Useless Beauty
2010
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So this post is going to be a little different than usual. I’m reviewing an EP by Useless Beauty, a local indie band from NYC consisting of pianist and producer, Nam Choi, and singer and percussionist, Katie Boone. Nam kindly emailed me asking me to review their newly released EP Sugar Crush. Never having received a request like this before, I’m excitedly taking on the opportunity.
Claiming to take influences from distinct female musicians such as Joni Mitchell, KT Tunstall, and Regina Spektor, Useless Beauty have created their own style of sweet, melodic pop music that sounds about as intoxicatingly sweet as the cover of their EP looks. Sugar Crush is primarily run by Katie’s soothing, sing-song-y vocals and supported by a melding of keyboard, guitar, and percussion. There is even an added element of saxophone that gently rises up in the background of the first track, “Shut Up and Let Me Love You” and “Broken Bones”, and solos during “Giggling Eyes”.
Useless Beauty’s carefully constructed pop music might seem cheesy at times. I mean, when you put cupcakes and gumballs on the cover of your album and name it “Sugar Crush” it might be hard to avoid the stereotype. But for two young musicians trying to create something fun and new in the modern music scene, this EP still comes off as a decent attempt despite hitting some cliché moments.
“Mer Song”, the second track and longest on the EP, would probably be the best example. It opens with a sugary sweet keyboard melody, reverb’d guitar, and some la la la’s from Katie. It’s your typical love ballad, but develops as it goes along and becomes a little more than the other tracks do. Nam’s gentle and somewhat shy voice makes an entrance halfway through the song, creating a delicate atmosphere Katie’s singing couldn’t quite establish at first. Katie’s voice seems to fit better in the pop-rock flavoured songs, but towards the end of “Mer Song” both vocalists sing a pleasant harmony together that works as a great ending to the song. It's moments like this when the vocals start to slip beneath the layer of instruments that Sugar Crush moves away from a forced, clean-cut pop sound to something more natural and enjoyable.
It may be that I had Citrus and Hush set on constant repeat during January, but I’m definitely hearing some Hush-era Asobi Seksu in “Broken Bones”. I’m guessing it’s not an immediate influence, but I can’t help but be reminded of Asobi’s “Sing Tomorrow’s Praise” or “Gliss” in “Broken Bones” 's vocal stylings (is that a word?) and dreamy mix of keyboard and guitar. Sadly, the song remains fairly laid-back for the most part, but its overall sound resonated with me and I consider it a highlight on Sugar Crush.
Naturally, my own music taste leads me to choose the beauty of “Mer Song” and “Broken Bones” over the pop-rock focused side of Sugar Crush. I enjoy “Shut Up and Let Me Love You” to a certain point, but “Giggling Eyes” is more iffy and “Get There” doesn’t catch my attention at all. “Eyes” almost gets away with its unoriginal sound just by being catchy, but the excessive guitar soloing ruins it. Even the sax starts to lose its magic. The problem with straightforward rock and pop-rock is simply that it’s boring. Useless Beauty should direct the effects of their sugar intake toward making cute pop music and stay away from mixing that with rock elements.
Check out the band’s myspace here.
EDIT: Looks like Soundcloud is currently down so no track downloading is available at the moment. Servers are expected to be up again soon. Servers are up!
[currently listening to: Kolniður - Jónsi]
Posted by Anna at February 13, 2010 03:23 PM