The beauty of music is that is has often served to give those on the outside a voice. Sometimes this "outsiderness" is precisely what makes the individual "in" (cf. Brian Wilson). Sometimes the despondent world-angst created by the individual resonates with an entire generation (cf. Steven Patrick Morrissey and The Smiths). And sometimes, this isolation manifests itself in utterly unlistenable ravings set to a backing track of wooden spoons.
Fran Barker and Neil Claxton - collectively Seeräuber Jenny ("Pirate Jenny", after a song from "The Threepenny Opera" by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht) - don't exactly fall into the outsider category, but introductory talk of leaky conservatories and a debut single of jittery disquiet certainly put them in the same neighbourhood.
The urgent and fuzzily energetic "Push It Away" is pure loner-grade pop. If the line "You're not alone in this/I am" doesn't convince, then the drawled, burning intensity of Barker's vocals should do. Sounding a bit like a crunchy synthcore The Cure, the track's twitchy insistence blossoms from awkward shuffling into cathartic, full-blown "dance-like-you've-got-no-friends" limb flailing.
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The b-side, "Waste Of Time", with its lyrics of dejected cynicism ("You know/a smile doesn't mean/that she likes you/it is just something/to cling to/instead of your lies"), arrives like a teary-eyed comedown after the solitary elation of the previous track. Mining a more wistful seam of melancholy, twinkling toy pianos and gently ebbing electronics (courtesy of former Mint Royale member, Claxton) ultimately open out into a forlorn twilight of soaring coruscant synths.
With a penchant for the sort of darkly bristling electro-pop that I Was A Cub Scout burst out with in 2007, only to disappear soon afterwards, here's hoping that Seeräuber Jenny last a little bit longer. If only to keep the loners amongst us dancing.
Seeräuber Jenny on MySpace
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