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Midnight Movies Lion The Girl New Line Records

      Midnight Movies drift in a jangly sea of electronics that is as much about motoring along with driving rhythm as it is about pulling the oars through ambient swoons. Gena Olivier's writing and singing charts the depths while the rest of the band mans the wheel and points the stern. Throughout the whole of Lion The Girl, mood and movement assent to their lead as keys burn beneath guitar and drums that swelter with color and grit. Eerie organ swells and bass punch are balanced by a whispy air that floats haze-like above each track. A change in crew hasn’t done the band a bit of disservice as all of the pieces that made them an early attraction have followed them forward to their second LP.

      Masterhanded by Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Pigeonhed, Calvin Johnson), the disc is a boil down of the numerous projects he's stamped in the past. Passing psych moves give way to grunge and noise in a seamless swoop as Olivier's voice keeps a tight clasp on dramatic maintenance. While her heavy breathed rasp rarely reaches beyond the monotone speaksing that makes her dangerously seductive, she has got some pipes. She brushes with a full vocal on the beautiful ‘Ribbons’ before running away with ‘24 Hour Dream’. Equally as affective are the halt-then-build tempos of the compositions themselves. Floor toms abound as the guitar shrill of ‘Patient Eye’ builds to a fever pitch before giving way. Olivier is a humble focal point to these more than able-bodies who offer a distinct mix of rapturous rock and fleshed out atmospherics. The addition of bass (Ryan Wood -Troy Taroy, The Pragmatics) opens these songs up to tremendous benefit. Quickly summed up Lion The Girl is ‘Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ meets ‘Sunday Girl’ in Seattle; this disc full of heavy sounds picks right up where the self-titled debut left off.

-Joel Armato 05/22/07