Blocks Recording Club
Being a classically trained musician and vocalist in a riot grrl band must be like being a NASCAR racer taking a Ford Taurus out for a quick grocery run. Few will dispute the Taurus’s economy efficiency or even the mild thrills attained from pushing the little engine to its limits but there’s only so much a person used to 200 km/h speeds can get out of the suburban stalwart. Similarly while riot grrl music has always been applauded for its energy politics and emotion it’s never been known for its complexity.
Fortunately Katie Stelmanis of Toronto’s Galaxy has found an outlet for her classical leanings with her debut solo album Join Us . The album finds Stelmanis exploring her training without abandoning the vividness of her main gig. Employing an army of keyboards Stelmanis constructs her own mini midi-orchestras and then deconstructs them with a punk sneer. “You’ll Fall” drones away with a simple piano progression and processed strings gradually building until Stelmanis rips it apart with explosive noise. “Steady” casts static-like percussive bursts underneath soaring choir-inspired vocals and stuttering keyboards. Stelmanis even transforms Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel like a) Natural Woman” into a sinister dirge.
Join Us does occasionally run into problems mainly when Stelmanis’s voice distances itself too much from the lofi nature of the songs and strays dangerously close to the realm of Evanescence-style popera. Fortunately this never detracts too greatly from an otherwise well-crafted and engaging listen that has a few more bells and whistles than the average Ford Taurus.
