Combine a plethora of power chords and a belter voice and add a splash of angst and you have got yourself a recipe for a rock band. Fools for Rowan followed the recipe to make their frosh album Twisted. Tied up. Tangled. a treat for those with female, rock inclined ears.
Lead singer Erin Mullins has a deliciously coarse, mature voice. She can belt with the best. With a voice reminiscent of Ms. Joplin and Ms. Benatar, Mullins is not shy about her feelings. Her voice gives the lyrics some serious ‘tude. This album had all the potential to be a Hot Topic, teenage angst record. Mullins’ mature voice allowed that not to happen. It’s distinctively not whiny, refined rock if you will.
The instrumentals in contrast to Mullins’ voice, in theory, shouldn’t work. They proved theory wrong, and make it happen. The power chords and intense guitar riffs in combination with such a “sultry” rock voice makes Twisted. Tied up. Tangled. sound like it will be good for many years rather than sounding like a “it’s cool for 10 seconds” album. With a variety of pacing, there really isn’t much chance of overplaying it to the point of hatred.
I am usually not a fan of remixes, but these “fools” did it right. The remix for “Burnt Around the Edges” managed to FINALLY make a good alt-rock remix that didn’t want me to take a drill to my temple. Of all things, they added a cello. A cello is apparently the key to rock remix success. I am not an advocate of remixing anything for sheer redundancy, but they did it right so exceptions can (and will) be made. Fools for Rowan proves to be the exception to the rule in more ways than one.
Sounds Like: Silversun Pickups crossed with 10,000 Maniacs with Janis Joplin/Pat Benetar-esque vocals.
Hot Tracks: Burnt Around the Edges(remix), Dead, Isn’t Enough
Manasa Vedula-MuzikReviews.com Contributor
May 25, 2010
