Smoosh
Withershins

The Smoosh are a mystery. Practically ignored everywhere, despite what seems to be a tailor-made marketing operation (two teenage girls, later becoming three, pretty and blonde taking on music), they do not hesitate in their artistic journey. And no, we are not talking about what might seem like cheap music, crude pop, low-quality dance tracks, we are talking about pure and raw indie rock, yes, tending towards pop, but rough, straightforward, offbeat, sparse. They had stirred up a bit of commotion, perhaps out of curiosity, with a gut-wrenching debut like "She Like Electric", 14 songs in half an hour, bass and keyboard, screams, whispers, moaning indie. There was a song, "La Pump", capable of uniting Zecchino D'Oro and punk, and there were sparse and dazzling melodies that rarely exceeded two minutes. There were echoes of Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Cibo Matto, but above all, there were them. Two little sisters (one born in '92, the other in '94) who did it all by themselves: melodies and lyrics, even the album art.

And so, after an unnoticed and hard-to-find album ("Free To Stay"), here they are again in 2010 with a gifted album. It's "Withershins", not distributed but available for free download from the group's official website (www.smoosh.com), which demonstrates how the Smoosh, despite a very young age that may arouse suspicion, are artists through and through. Completely changed attitude. Here, there is no longer the roughness nor the anger of the debut, here there are more mature and aware girls, more polished and refined in sound, but also less easy-listening.

The point of no return that no one expected, a teenage ice hell. "Withershins" is a delightful and icy album, surprising already from the beautiful beginning: "Finnerodja", a Scandinavian spell, built on a carpet of magical keyboards and a calm and broken percussion, unfolds like a bud over distant fairy sighs that scratch. Faster and more radio-friendly is "We Are Our Own Lies", intelligent pop d'auteur that soars on distant riffs and strings that caress the crackling piano loops. "Promises" dusts off, first echoes of folk rock stolen from the latest Cat Power, then lets itself go, kidnapped among sudden guitar explosions, accompanying the track in a long progression, which finds its strength in the long finale, where the instruments chase each other elegantly. "The Line" roars on almost paradisiacal indie beats, while "Dark Shine" speeds up the rhythm too calm and snowy of the previous tracks, and lets go into a sonic lava made of rhythms and sighs that take your breath away. "Great Skies", on the other hand, provides a right bridge between the early and these Smoosh: mature and highly enjoyable low-fi, that gently caresses the ears letting itself flow, before "In The Fall" arrives, very simple in its pianistic interceding, ends by suddenly changing course with a pleasing duet between sax and drums.

There is also an unprecedented electronic incursion ("Aaarplane") that looks like a mix between The Knife and Coldcut's "Sound Mirrors": beautiful, rough, breathless, and explosive despite the slow pace, it pulses and enchants, and there is also a splendid rock of sirens lost in the abyss ("Call Of The Mid Afternoon", the album's peak) that plays on repetition, on explosive drum strokes that seem like electronic beats. It closes with a spell, with a brilliant last strike, the wonderful "Bridge No. 219242", syncopated at times, with a surprising almost improvised closure, that rises, rises ever higher, until it destroys itself. 

Less surprising than the debut because it is more studied and elegant, perhaps even pretentious and overly academic, but definitely impactful. As always, a trio that should be rewarded not just for their very young age. Imperfect for sure, but to have more bands like this...