By Pete Donahue
If you have a penchant for late-70′s/early-80′s art/guitar pop like Television, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Pretenders, and Patti Smith, then you’ll probably like Lissy Trullie. Maybe more than her influences.
Like recent tour-mates and fellow Big Apple dwellers The Virgins, Lissy Trullie and her band’s sound proudly displays spoken/hardly-sung lyrics, simple guitar hooks, and damned-if-they-tried good looks. A former model herself, Trullie has already performed at some hipster fashion events, including an Alexander McQueen event as part of New York City’s Fashion Week last week. Of course, we’re not here to read about tight jeans and bedheads; is Lissy Trullie any good?
Her newly-released Self-Taught Learner EP boasts six songs of raw guitar pop that you can dance, smoke, drink, make out, or pass out to. Kicking off with “Boy Boy,” you’ll love the lighting-fast start/stop rhythm in the verses. “You got a funny face/And a crooked smile/Oh, you’re a prince in some world/But not in mine!” she snarls. With a nice big “ooh-ooh” falsetto chorus, it’s does the trick – simple and catchy.
“She Said” continues Trullie’s 80′s pop nod with more clean twin-guitar power chord hooks. The song also boasts a smidge of additional digital percussion in the verses, rounding out the sound and giving it a thicker backbone for Trullie to work with. “She said she fell in love with him ‘cos he looks good/That’s all she understood” is my favorite line.
The title track cuts back on the tempo and volume a bit, as Lissy admits “You were my first kiss/You were my first miss,” over a rudimentary-yet-catchy dance beat. The song then unfolds in a more brash confession in the loud chorus: “Oh I want to die with you/And are you lonely?” Despite sounding a bit cliche, her husky, wobbly voice sounds about million times more desperate and believable than, say, if Chris Martin sung the same line.
“Money,” another extremely catchy number, has a very quirky guitar hook that vaguely reminds us of Toni Basil’s “Mickey.” Actually, if Basil fronted a late-70′s NYC punk band with a CBGB’s residency, “Money” wouldn’t be too far off of the sound (minus the faux-cheerleader peppiness, of course).
“Forget About It” has three tempo changes and sounds like it was a few songs slapped together because they couldn’t fit anywhere else. And I love every bit of it. “If you want me maybe let me know/’Cos I’m so done with bein’ alone,” she sings right before the unexpected “La-la-la-la-la-la” falsetto chorus full of echo. It’s my favorite thing on the entire album. So simple, yet so good. And for those thinking of making a move: “Forget about it/Don’t kid yourself, no.”
For the Hot Chip fans tuned in, you’ll be pleased to know the EP closes with a cover of “Ready for the Floor.” Oozing with the now-familiar too-cool-for-school hipster chic attitude and Brooklyn garage rock sonic delivery, it’s better than the original and more appropriate for that dive bar jukebox than its electronic predecessor.
So we have what appears to be yet another grimy rock chic band fronted by a slightly androgynous ex-model who plays power chords on a Fender Stratocaster. Is that any good? Damn right it is. There are a few more things we can likely expect from Lissy Trullie: Music featured on 20-something television drama (likely on the WB network), more fashion magazine appearances, more fans at their shows (who look like they are either unimpressed and/or still sleepy), more tours on both sides of the pond, and if the Self-Taught Learner EP is any indication, more top-class indie pop. Highly recommended.
The album is put out by the tiny Brooklyn-based American Myth records.
Photo: Ear Farm
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Buy: Lissy Trullie – Self – Taught Learner
Myspace: Lissy Trullie
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