Marnie Stern (self-titled)
LABEL: Kill Rock Stars

Possibly the best thing about Marnie Stern’s third outing is the merciful simplify of the album’s title. Many a music critic was heard crying out in anguish in 2008 when This Is it and I Am it and You Are it and so Is That and He Is it and She Is it and it Is it and That is That was released. Writing about that album wasn’t fun, and for obvious reasons.

But the title made sense. Stern’s second album was manic and choppy and somewhat hard to listen to at times as it skittered and dashed from track to track. Giving that album a title with about a billion extraneous words was just truth in advertising, the musical equivalent to, say, Infinite Jest.

“The good part is that this album is intense and messy.”

Stern’s third album, called simply "Marnie Stern" still retains the shrill, spasmodic nature that her previous work so eagerly evinced. Fans of her (well-known) finger-tapping will be pleased to find it in great quantities throughout the album, though it does occasionally take the back seat to Stern’s vocals and the often-piercing crack of drummer Zach Hill’s snare drum. (The latter is actually impossible to ignore once you notice it for the first time.)

Stern’s self-titled third effort works well because it’s clear that the thirty-four year old knows there is little she needs to change. Minus a few moments on tracks like “Risky Biz” and “The Things You Notice,” the album maintains a blistering place. Thirty-three volatile minutes after “For Ash” begins, the album is over, which, like most things, is both good and bad. The good part is that this album is intense and messy. The bad part is that that’s all it is.

But that’s not Stern’s fault. Marnie Stern is uncompromising in much the way that its star is, dashing rapidly forward with no clear direction but taking listeners for a ride all the same. It should come as no surprise, then, to find that the album’s slowest track is it’s last. “The Things You Notice” is the result of Stern slowing down. This drum-less, vaguely introspective, and distinctly un-Marnie Stern-like track might not necessarily be the album’s best, but its certainly its most interesting. Perhaps, Stern should slow down more often.


REVIEWED BY RICARDO BILTON
RICARDO’S FAVE TRACKS: “Transparency is the New Mystery” • “Risky Biz” • “The Things You Notice”

FREE MP3: “Transparency is the New Mystery” (Spirit Animal Remix)
FREE MP3: “For Ash”