CD REVIEWS

Choice pick: Erika Simonian "All the Plastic Animals"

Her breakthrough album. Simonian's first cd, 29 1/2 had some great songs (notably the live staple New York) but was sometimes plagued by the same infestation of lame, atonal open chords that has been infecting indie rock records since REM were considered "alternative." This time around it's nice to see a talented artist make the quantum leap and realize her talent. In fact, in what has become a tremendous year for new music, All the Plastic Animals is an instant contender for best of show: 13 riveting songs of longing, disillusion and betrayal, driven by reverberating acoustic guitar strumming along with the occasional rock arrangement. Simonian's clear, unaffected voice channels seething anger and a smoldering sensuality with equal finesse, evoking Randi Russo's upper-register indictments as well as Amy Rigby's more seductive work. The catchy melodies feature thoughtful guitar work with incisive, innovative chord voicings. Lyrically, this is one of the year's more deliciously vicious efforts, marinated in bile, a just dessert for quislings and equivocators. The two brief vignettes that open the cd eerily foreshadow the rest of the album. Any hope for redemption is always in jeopardy: a meal prepared for a (presumed) loved one is cynically called "Food from the Cow," and the title track's plastic figurines are all that guards said loved one as sleep settles in on its haunches. Elsewhere, Simonian sinks her fangs into those who lose themselves in marriage (Pretty Good Wife), self-centered chicks who always manage to snag the guy that all the other girls want (Self Made Drama Machine), and trendoid lotharios (Mr.Wrong). Relationships (or, more often, the absolute hopelessness thereof) also get put through the wringer, from the chilling alienation anthem Bitter and Brittle, to the caustic Number Two, to the self-explanatory Eternal Spinsterhood. The only song on the cd that doesn't work is a misguided attempt at turning the 80s Springsteen hit Dancing in the Dark into a come-hither ballad (one Springsteen cover that WOULD work wonders in this dark siren's hands is Atlantic City, from the Nebraska album).

The similarity to Randi Russo's quieter material is striking: the two could be cousins if not sisters. While Simonian's black humor is clever and hits the mark, this cd only hints at the offhand charm and wit that characterizes her live show. Until Siouxsie Sioux's voice comes back from the dead and she gets the band together in the studio, this cd will do just fine. Erika Simonian plays the Living Room on Ludlow St. just south of Stanton at 7 PM on Thurs, June 17.

--Alan Young, Trifectagram Wednesday June 16, 2004

Nothing plastic about this album...
All the Plastic Animals showcases Simonian's great lyrical sense of the vulnerable and the wry. It's a quiet, low-fi rocker, the kind you listen to late at night, driving home, or in your room with only a lamp on. My favorite songs are "Pretty Good Wife" and "Bitter and Bitter," two back to back gems that speak to the tender, salty wounds in us all.

-- Summer Pierre

Liz Phair meets your Mom.
When most indie artists include a cover song on a record it usually is the highlight of the sequence. You know the song already, the band puts a new spin on it, it sounds cool, and it has a way of making the original material on the record seem blase. Not the case here. Erika's version of "Dancing in the Dark" is well done, but it pales in comparison to her own material (on a related note, I also think that her last effort, "29 1/2", was a superior post-9/11 record to The Boss' - whether it meant to be or not). I've been listening to Erika's stuff for a number of years and I honestly can't believe how her work just gets better and better with each new recording/song. The title track might just be the most beautiful song she's ever recorded... all at once I want to co-opt it as a lullaby for my own child AND have Erika come to my house and sing it to ME as I drift into the sweetest dreams. Thus, the short version of the review: Liz Phair meets your Mom. This is the beautiful complexity of Erika's songbook - songs like "Mr. Wrong" and "Here Comes Love Again" are erotic in the same muted-yet-brash, almost-tongue-in-cheek style that you loved on "Exile in Guyville"..... but then songs like the aformentioned "All the Plastic Animals" just make you wish she was your mother. Disturbing? On the contrary, it is strangely comforting. And maybe that's the best way to describe her dissonant, yet undeniably embraceable, brand of indie rock. You're going to feel conflicted. But you're going to like it.           

-- Christopher Martine, Childlike Records

RECENT PRESS

"Songwriting aside, it’s hard to find words that do justice to Simonian’s voice. She can sing in a smoky lower register, then glide to a graceful falsetto, accentuating the melody while never failing to imbue the lyrics with her personality. There’s something in that voice, a cat-and-mouse playfulness, that lets you know that Simonian is in control, even when she seems most vulnerable."

-- Jim Testa

"Singer Erika Simonian has a voice like a honey-dipped firecracker: It can be both seductive and sarcastic, but she’s not afraid to raise it and belt out lyrics from her gut."

-- The Village Voice

“Captivating a few lucky ears, one voice, one guitar and a kazoo - had simply suspended the sunset.”

--The Oregonian

"Graceful singer/guitarist Erika Simonian is enchanting, whether she’s sofly confessing heartfelt sentiments or bellowing out emotions from her soul’s deepest recesses."

-- CMJ

“That voice, as in her previous effort, is heavenly. Warm, half-breathed, delicate. It’s a sigh, but there’s nothing passive about it. Simonian can communicate so much emotion in just one quiet breath”

--Indie-Music.com

“I'm sure she is often compared to Chan Marshall, but Simonian's got a different overall appeal - she isn't as haunted and repressed as Marshall. While the songs are just as richly emotional and tug just as hard at the listener's own emotions, they're also infused with light, air and an almost playful, signature touch all Simonian's own.”

--Southofmainstream.com

“Erika Simonian may be a Lilith Fair veteran, but her music doesn’t jibe with the sensitive-woman-with-acoustic-guitar associated with that tour… Her coarse, often angry lyrics belie the relaxed, almost dreamy way she arranges and sings her songs."

--The Oregonian

“This beautiful young woman with the voice of an angel quickly charmed listeners, especially since she quickly revealed not only a wealth of talent, but a prickly sense of humor that helped her break through many of the stereotypes of a female singer-songwriter.”

--Jersey Beat

“Her voice is both electronically trancelike and warmly sensual at the same time, sounding like a cross between Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde.”

--Indie-Music.com

“Her songwriting is a skewed approach to traditional themes. To paraphrase one of her songs, ‘savor the brilliance of this honesty as she lives off her moments of clarity”

--Jennifer Layton

-- www.indiemusicreview.com/erikasimonian