Louise Distras
Young, wild, & armed with acoustic guitar, Louise Distras sings of desperate situations, dodging bullets, final stands and hostile towns with the coarse emotional vigour of a reckless outlaw pleading to the heavens for deliverance from the hell of a barren life. Her anthemic melodies and refrains grab hold with a fierce bite, whilst her lyrics are fraught with futile sentiments, fearful vulnerability, and aggressive defiance, reflecting an adept eye for the frustration of trying to escape a fruitless life in a town where only love and resentment grow.
Her voice cuts through the tracks with the same visceral intimacy as on Jamie T's 'Panic Prevention', or Billy Bragg's 'Levi Stubbs' Tears'; whilst the acoustic guitar rattles out a cascade of chords with the same relentless vibrancy of Neutral Milk Hotel's songs about mutant children and poorly conceived monarchies.
Folk-punk may strike some as somewhat of a contradiction in stylistic terms, but Ms. Distras ties the fast-paced aggression of Joe Strummer's Wild-West rebellious attitude to the rustic charm of the current 'folk revival' with jaunty skill, and the resultant sound is something distinctive, appealing, instantly memorable, and pleasantly indelible.
Louise Distras' EP, 'Heartstrings on a Hand Grenade' is short, at three tracks, but fierce; like a musically inclined Gimli. The strength of this vignette is in the diversity between the tracks displayed within a fairly restrictive playing style. 'Black and Blue' is an upbeat and lively number, with lots of catchy whistling and whimsical fancying, but the lyrics have more in common with 'Jackson Cage' than Eliza Doolittle and there's a followable narrative structure, which is a welcome refreshment from the erratic mumblings of singers whose concept of lyrics is just the vacuous filler to hold stupid people's attention until the bass kicks in.
Opener, 'Bullets', has a strong refrain that feels instantly familiar and Distras builds well upon it, making the song feel like a personal anthem for a disjointed youth, rambling around the same ineludible streets. 'This is Your Life' has much the same feel, though there's an element of the politically charged that supports the '-punk' suffix to this hybrid genre, and it comes across as one of the strongest tracks because of it. There's real fury and commitment in these songs and the minimalistic instrumentation only amplifies the personal expression that's at the core of Ms. Distras' appeal.
Overall I give Louise Distras' 'Heartstrings on a Hand Grenade' an animal rating of: Slow Loris. Don't be deceived; it may be short, instantly likeable, and something you will want to own, but this animal will still claw the skin from your face if you get it riled. Don't underestimate it.
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