Ultralash

Country of origin:

U.S.

Type of music generally:

Evocative/eclectic alternative pop/folk

Status:

Most recent release, Ultralash, 2003

See also:

Ultralash site

Comparisons:

Mary Timony, Lisa Germano, Lisa Cerbone; Suzanne Vega meets Shannon Wright

Covers/own material:

Own

General comments:

See album comments below

Recommended first album:

Ultralash is her debut album in the Ultralash incarnation

Recordings:

Ultralash

Ultralash

Release info:

2003--Fictious Records--FR004

Availability:

See label website and Ultralash site for availability

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended

Group members:

Karry Walker--guitars, banjos, optigan, wurlitzer, piano, audion, moog, celeste, keyboards, vibes, vocals, percussion, programming
Ricky Carter--drums

Guest artists:

Paul Scriver--bass, additional programing on 1 track
Micahel Mellender--whiny things on 1 track
Roger Moutenot--minio moog on 1 track, electric guitar on 1 track, percussion on 1 track, pump program on 1 track
Kirk Beydt--strings on 1 track
Cortland Joyce--percussion on 1 track

Comments:

Karry Walker's voice has a delicate quaver that's like Robin Holcomb's. It's nasal, with a mountain twang beauty, as sharp and refreshing as pine needles. Like Holcomb, her music refers to a mythic American past, steeped in folk traditions. Her bedroom folk combines bits of trip-hop and Appalachia, the samples and drum machines dueling with banjos and the creak of rocking chairs on the porch. Her lyrics are enigmatic puzzles, fragments of short story detail and corrosive imagery.
     "Kitchen Song" describes the life of a homeless prostitute with wry grit: "My hair smells like an ashtray/ And there's 17 coats on the bed where I slept." The minor key melody is catchy. The minor key melancholy of "BMW" concerns a woman being questioned by the cops about her missing lover. A potentially lurid scene from the TV show "Cops" is transformed into a little epiphany of love and tenderness. Tentative banjo notes and funereal organs open the cryptic "Dandelion." Walker recites, like a backwoods oracle, "Dandelion/Take a tire iron/To my skull/ And render me null." "Barbiewhore" is fuzzy-crispy indie rawk, as lacerating as early PJ Harvey.
     Suzanne Vega meets Shannon Wright in these musical novels, as intricate and haphazardly beautiful as quilts. (cgidney@nas.edu)

Further info:

Email kw@ultrashlash.com

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