Utah Carol - Rodeo Queen
(2007, Stomping Ground)
It's apparent from the opening bars of "Rodeo Queen" that Chicago Husband/Wife duo Utah Carol know a thing or two about writing music that billows with a lonely loveliness and just a hint of twang. The knowledge that Grant Birkenbeul and Jija Davis have released a mere three albums in their 12 years of musical collaboration should clue you in on the laid-back pace that their songs follow. Having been satisfied up until this point with a local following in Chicago and a larger fandom in Europe, "Rodeo Queen" has the potential to finally bring these two to the attention of the U.S. indie community.
Let's get this straight right now, we are not talking about the dour downbeat drudgery that has invaded indie rock in the last few years. Utah Carol is way too sappy, and I mean that in a good way, to be completely lumped into the Americana genre. Their style falls somewhere between Iron & Wine and The Starlight Vocal Band mixed with a bit of Ida or Mojave 3. Nearly the entire album is sung in unison by both Birkenbeul and Davis with a smooth, breathy sweetness. While varying in both style and substance, the songs of "Rodeo Queen" are all draped with the same blanket of low-key dreaminess conjured by the lovers' dual warbling.
Despite Utah Carol's propensity for starry-eyed sentimentality, the lovey dovey schmaltz so rampant in some other couple bands is actually kept to a relative minimum. Don't get me wrong, that element IS present but most of the songs paint overly romanticized pictures of the love that got away and all the accompanying notions of regret, heartache, obsession and self-sabotage. With soft guitars and sweet melodies Birkenbeul and Davis often seem to be telling personal stories of other people's lives which is all well and good as long as they keep doing it with such a bleary-eyed, twinkling, coffee house kind of panache.
1 comment:
You still aren't funny! It's extremely irritating that you would insinuate that people who don't like your lame "Women" thing are just offended because they are the ones being targeted. Or that offended people just don't "get it." Give me a break.
C’mon genius, have you considered the idea that it just wasn't at all funny? I mean, you can get away with a ton or two in satire as long as you are still making people laugh. Unfortunately for you, hardly anyone is laughing at your sad, pathetic excuse for a comedy bit.
And YOU say that people should enjoy IT light-heartedly??? This type of comedy is NOT light-hearted, okay? It does NOT make me LOL. Not at all.
It has to be extreme and also very sure of itself to be funny. It should MAKE you laugh with ITS truth. Your crappy article or research thing was a little extreme but not FOCUSED enough to make most people laugh. And it was defanitely not true.
Think David LaChapelle or something. Think Dave vs. someone who sucks, for example the "comedien" and E! channel star Chelsea Handler, who I hate! Yuck! She sucks for the same reason you do in this perticular instance. And if you don't agree with that comparison and somehow think Chelsea Handler is funny then I completely understand why you can't be funny.
Also, I just want to say that if you have to explain all DAY long why your bit WAS funny ("It’s meant to be silly, and a parody of sexism, in its actuality and perception," blee bla dee), then YOU have FAILED. You suck, and good day.
BTW just wanted to let you know that your days doing your stupid page in the paper are numbered. Asta Laveesta
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