Marnie Stern – This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That
Very few bands can get away with completely unnecessarily long song and album titles. Sure Los Campesinos! Can get do it by using an ironic tone, however Marnie Stern is the first to pull it off without the slightest hint of irony. Her second album This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That is a mouthful to say but it sums up the feel of the album perfectly. The album is fast paced, strong, can takes several listening to pull it all in, and nearly impossible to classify.
Stern’s style is based around finger tapping guitar technique, which is mostly reserved for solo guitar artists who write songs by seeing how many notes they can cram into a song (*cough*Malmsteen*cough*). Yet Stern takes a technique that is usually used to create the sound of fast shredding easier and actually doing interesting things. With it she has created riffs that can go from frantic to danceable.
Stern is good to break free from the standard verse chorus song structure as well, choosing instead to taking a most post rock (yet this could never be classified as post rock) building-up approach. Songs will often start with a single riff that will be repeated and eventually expanded. Think of it like the walk off scene in Zoolander, one model (riff) walks then other duplicates then elaborates. This system works incredibly well over top Stern’s quick single syllable singing style. The whole thing is reminiscent of Melt Banana only instead of instant frantic mess there is a build to the explosion of sound.
In looking for something to nit pick in this album I can’t seem to find any. I can say that Stern’s singing style makes it impossible to sing along too, but that is exactly what she wanted. Everything done on this album is done for a purpose and it is what Marnie Stern wanted. It is by no means for everyone but if you have ever found your self listening to Melt Banana, Lightning Bolt or any Mike Patton side project I would recommend giving This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That a listen. She has left me excited for her next album; hopefully this one will have another extravagant name, perhaps with several buffaloes in it.
Marnie Stern – Prime
Marnie Stern – The Crippled Jazzer
Marnie Stern – Roads? Where We\'re Going We Don\'t Need Roads.mp3
Tags: album, Marnie Stern
I can’t believe you mentioned incredibly long song titles and didn’t mention Sufjan Stevens, the king of unnecessarily long song titles.