Geisha Girls – S/T (CD)

The style of music that Geisha Girls start their album with is something that looks back to the first days of punk rock for influence. Of course, the band adds much more to their sound than being a copy of The Dead Boys, but one can hear 1977 in hints of tracks like “Traced Lines”. The shrill guitar work present on that track is a perfect example, and shows the band as being tremendously indebted to bands like Talking Heads and early Cure. Te band has essentially with this album reinvented the wheel. The disc could have been made twenty years ago,, if the recording technology was the same.

This is retro-rock at its finest. Each song, regardless of whether it is “This Is Novelty” or “Regrets”, is something that individuals could get behind and catapult up the charts. If bands like Interpol were able to make megabucks by recrafting this older genre of music, there is little doubt in my mind that Geisha Girls doing essentially the same things a few years later should not be a success. Let me clarify myself here.

What Geisha Girls does on this album is not just copy a Joy Division album and try to hoodwink their fan. They may be tremendously influenced by bands like Joy Division, but each of the songs on this album are Geisha Girls’ own. The fact that a number of these songs are so catchy is purely due to the talent of the band. For example, when Geisha Girls does a track like “Finding Peers”, it is due to the interesting arrangements that the band commits to CD that makes the band succeed, not only because their style is something that is current “in” right now. The band may be getting a ton of scene point for their style, but Geisha Girls is a perfect example of one of those acts that actually has the ability along with the cool haircuts and clothing. Chances are that the Geisha Girls will be the next big thing in rock here soon, which will mean that the band is one of the few that honestly deserve that title. I will be listening to the disc well after the band falls off the face of this earth, and I sincerely hope that Geisha Girls are able to come up with further albums that continue along this vein while fostering their ability as musicians.

Top Tracks: Retaining Water, Skinny Wrists

Rating: 6.5/10

Geisha Girls – S/T / 2006 No. 3 / 10 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/geishagirls / http://www.number3records.com / Reviewed 31 August 2006

[JMcQ]