Breech- Tarnish and Undress

ARTIST: Breech
ALBUM: Tarnish and Undress
LABEL: RU Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 10-27-07

Despite the psychedelic fairy tale cover art, this CD from Los Angeles band Breech is dark and earthy, combining subtle country influences with brooding alternative rock. Lead singer Missy Gibson's voice has the slightly raspy sweetness of Maria McKee and the unsentimental lyricism of Exene Cervenka. On album opener "Grounded," she's a bad girl, staying out all hours and drinking. On "Texas," she's sexual and unabashed (both that song and "Girl of a Mess," incidentally, are raw enough to make fans of proper Nashville country blush). Instrumentalist Mike Flanagan, for his part, incorporates a slew of different of styles in his arrangements, from punk rock chords on "Keeper of the Key" to fiddle and finger-picking on the brooding ballad "Concealed." There's even a smoky torch song ("Safe Here") and a jaunty cabaret number ("Schubert Waltz") that sees Gibson's voice transforming from playful ingenue to throaty-voiced chanteuse. While none of this is uplifting in the least, it's all quite lovely in its broken-heartedness, with the brooding bluesy "Unrequited" and the bittersweet vocal harmonies of "Time Won't Heal" standing out as album highlights. Fans of darker-edged rock acts ranging from Concrete Blonde to The Bad Seeds will definitely dig on this, and it's down-at-the-heels realism offers a much-needed respite from the usual self-conscious posing of the Los Angeles rock scene.

Visit www.breech.net for more information.