Photos by Aaron Richter
The Artist & Their Latest Release: Frankie Rose and the Outs, The Only One 7-inch (Slumberland, 2009)
The Showcase: Chaos In Tejas @ Beerland, 3.18.10
The Set in a Few Sentences: So this is why Frankie Rose quit Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts as soon as both bands started getting magazine spreads and making actual money–because she’s writing better songs than the both of ’em combined and doesn’t even have an album out yet. The reason is simple: while she’s admittedly influenced by such Slumberland alums as Black Tambourine and the Aislers Set, Rose’s vocals are as vaporous as Elizabeth Fraser‘s and capable of carrying dream-pop ballads (“Save Me,” “Memo”) as well as woozy roller rink jams (“Little Brown Haired Girls,” “Don’t Tred”).
Not only that; her songs are perfectly balanced between dollops of distortion, restless rhythms and disembodied melodies, giving the impression that this isn’t the work of yet another garage band that spent a night studying Phil Spector before bashing out an incoherent mess. (Yep, we still don’t like the Vivian Girls’ last one, although you can color us intrigued for the Crystal Stilts’ next effort.)
Honestly, we were ready to write the Outs’ off as the splitting image of Rose’s other band, the Dum Dum Girls, and, well, she’s already poised to break away from that pack as well.
And a Letter Grade: A-
