Morningwood – Morningwood

Artist: Morningwood

Title: Morningwood

Label: Capitol

Rating: 6.5/10

FILE UNDER: ‘70s-style rock and pop.

CORPORATE LINE: Riff-shredding, ass-shaking, louder-than-life Morningwood is a glorious hodgepodge of personalities, backgrounds and influences — much like their NYC hometown — but that’s where the pigeonholing ends. “There’s an attitude, this balls-to-the-wall feeling, you don’t hear so much in New York these days,” says Morningwood frontwoman Chantal Claret. “At one time there was a grittiness here with the local bands, a passion and energy, but now it seems pretty safe.”

THE GREAT:
“Nth Degree” – Singer Chantal Claret does a great job of rocking while sounding cute at the same time. This song starts out like an Aqua song which is completely out of place with most of the record. Yet, it steals the show and might appear to be a better direction than the garage band sound they try so hard to mimic.
“Jetsetter” – The verses are scratched with distortion while the music goes electronic. If it weren’t for Claret’s gorgeous voice repeating “this is a jetsetter music letter from me to you” the song would be a wash.

THE AVERAGE:
“NU Rock” – If you dig the ‘70s style that is invading rock you’ll love this saccharine rock song.
“Take Of Your Clothes” – Being provocative only gets you so far. There are points where the song works and times when it doesn’t.

THE BAD:
“Easy” – It’s not easy for a band to be something they aren’t—a hard-edge rock group.

FRANKLY: Morningwood shows a lot of promise. The album is all over the place. Some moments Morningwood sound like the Pixies. Then they sound like Aqua. And there are some songs that sound like The Pretenders. Morningwood is much better when they lean towards a mix of pop and rock rather than a tougher leather rock sound.

+ Rae Gun