San Francisco-based female trio Grass Widow join a slew of recent DIY post-punk revivalist groups-- Vivian Girls, the Bitters, Crocodiles-- but the band's loose, meandering guitars and colorful vocals bring something new to the scene. Formed in 2007 from the remnants of the band Shitshorm after drummer Frankie Rose moved on to Vivian Girls, Grass Widow's three members share vocal duties, and the voices range from child-like to choir-ready, making for a delivery that can be harmonious when it needs to be, but is just as interesting when it isn't.
Hannah Lew (bass), Raven Mahon (guitar), and Lillian Maring (drums) each seem to represent a different set of emotions with their voices-- say, timid and shy, sad and mournful, and strong and bitter-- as if they're performing three different dramatic parts. This probably isn't their intention, but the mix of tones is nonetheless a powerful complement to the textures played out on their three instruments, and the vocals add a distinctive pop element to the post-punk roots of the music. It's a sound in keeping with Grass Widow's self-titled debut, released last year on the small label Make a Mess (and followed by an EP on Captured Tracks last August). Those songs, few of which clocked in over three minutes, feature the same raw, disjointed guitar patterns, call-and-response vocals, sashaying, tambourine-driven rhythms, and delightful, quick-shifting harmonies that sometimes sound centuries-old. The band gets an improved production quality on Past Time, but it's still bare-bones, with no dramatic effects added in the studio.
If the trio wants to bring in more drama, they add more instruments. "Give Me Shapes" is a sliver of a song at 1:49, but it shimmies and charges with all the force of a longer song with help from a string section. It's a nice surprise to hear the strings, which show up again with more to say on "Uncertain Memory". Some listeners might wish they'd come back again a few more times. Maring's rapid, pitter-patter drums and the simple Liz Phair-like vocal melody on "Old Disguise" prove that the band doesn't always need the extra help, but there are certain songs that feel more like sketches: less structured, less keen to find resolutions. Pinback comes to mind: lots of surf-inspired noodling, but none of surf rock's woozy effects, and sometimes a flat dramatic progression from start to finish. But sometimes, as on "Landscape", the vocals swoop in to save the song, cutting through the instruments' hollow searching with bright harmonies.
While there is certainly a catchy element to these songs, what holds some of them back is the deemphasized lyrics. The songs may sound lovely, but the vocals are recorded at the same volume as the instruments, so it takes a conscious, exclusive listen of the lyrics to notice that they're there, then to try to parse them and connect them to the music. Exacerbating this is the fact that there are three voices: They often sing right over each other with three different sets of lyrics, enhancing each other on a musical level, but dizzying the listener on a verbal one. Past Time certainly isn't background music, but the vocalists' missives might be understood as simply the core of the band's sound-- and perhaps something more, if you're able to divert your attention from the charms of the music.
