Women

Six months after its initial release in the band’s native Canada, Jagjaguwar finally brings the self-titled debut from Albertan psych-rockers Women to these shores. And the good news is that our patience is largely rewarded across ten tracks that take in everything from queasy West Coast harmonies to doom-laden guitar wig-outs. Women certainly isn’t short on variety, and it’s only after repeated listens that it really gels as a solid whole rather than a series of lo-fi set-pieces.

Produced for the most part by fellow Calgary resident and labelmate Chad VanGaalen on beat-up equipment and in numerous subterranean spaces, the quartet’s willingness to experiment with drone sounds and tape hiss gives rise to a sort of organised chaos without ever straying into the realms of self-indulgence. What’s more, it’s the band’s assured improvisation – several of these cuts are little more than short, sharp jams – that ensures Women has more to offer than your average début. Think a slightly more focused Times New Viking, or perhaps a less unhinged Deerhoof.

The main gripe to be had here is with the brevity of many of the tracks on offer. Unlike, say, Sonic Youth (an obvious influence) or, more recently, the band’s like-minded touring partners, Dungen, Women seem reluctant to stay with one particular idea – be it a riff, chorus or drone – for any length of time whatsoever. As a result, many of these songs grind to a halt just as they are bursting into life, with four of them failing to make it past the two-minute mark. It’s one thing to leave the listener wanting more, but here the effect is somewhat jarring.

When the band decides to cut loose and just ‘go with it’, though, the results are frequently impressive. ‘Black Rice’, an immediate standout, is a disaffected slacker-anthem-in-waiting, while ‘Upstairs’ begins all Deerhunter-y before mutating into a violin-shredding dirge that shouldn’t be listened to with the lights out. Elsewhere, the decidedly jerky ‘Shaking Hand’ threatens to steal the show with stomping riffage and singer Patrick Flegel sounding suitably weird while deadpanning about heart attacks, Chinatown and not being able to “recognise the shapes”.

Women probably won’t change your life any time soon, but there’s a confidence and lack of pretence here that sets them apart from the indie flotsam and jetsam. Now if only they can persuade Chad to leave the tape rolling a bit longer next time…