Organ - Sinking Hearts

  by John Clarkson

published: 26 / 2 / 2005

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Review

All girl group the Organ have been gaining steadily increasing international acclaim since they formed in 2001. The quintet, who come from Vancouver, and which consists of Katie Sketch (vocals), Shelby Stocks (drums), Debora Cohen (guitar), Ashley Webber (bass) and Jenny Smyth (Hammond), released their debut album, 'Grab That Gun', on Canadian label Mint Records in North America in November of last year. Now, to coincide with their first UK tour in late March and early April, they have put out on Sink and Stove Records, 'Sinking Hearts', an EP which features three previously unreleased tracks and three of the songs from that album. The influence of girl-fronted early 80's synth acts such as the Passions and the Tourists, and especially melancholic fellow Canadians Martha and the Muffins,shines through on 'Sinking Hearts'. With Cohen's pealing stabs of guitar ; Webber's dark, spiralling bass ; Stocks' thunderclaps of drums and Smyth's brooding, powerful hammond organ, the Organ, however, have much which is distinctly of their own as well. Sketch's angular, bruised lyrics and soaring, echoing vocals are meanwhile a revelation. 'It's Time to Go' has her bored and feeling a rising sense of ennui and frustration with the rock world ("If you're tired of the scene/and rock doesn't mean a thing/and all the girls look bad when they sing/la da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da/it's time to go/it's time to go"). Other songs tell of betrayal and loss. On the disturbing, poignant 'There is Nothing I Can Do' Sketch cuts and slashes herself after she discovers her boyfriend has been unfaithful ("So someone snuck into your room/and it got back to me/Now I lie her in my room/and there is nothing I can do/but cut and think about you"). The last track, the mournful 'No One Has Ever Looked So Dead', has her recalling going star watching with a lost love ("In the backseat of your car/you showed me every single star/and how the zenith and the sounds change in every town/well it's over and I can't go there anymore"). Abstract and offbeat, the Organ's minimalistic arrangements underlie their spiky, sparkling centre. They are a haunting, mesmerising experience. Hopefully Britain, as well as North America, will be hearing much more of them in the near future. and in the years to come.

Track Listing:-

1 We've Got To Meet
2 I Am Not Surprised
3 It's Time To Go
4 Sinking Hearts
5 There Is Nothing I Can Do
6 No One Has Ever Looked So Dead