Ode to the Marionette at the Meadowlark

Related Content

• Moon Tides plays January 7 at the hi-dive
  January 5, 2012
• Reader: Aside from the obnoxious fans, the Portishead show was beyond description
  October 31, 2011
• Review: Portishead at 1STBANK Center, 10/27/11
  October 28, 2011
• Reader: Portishead has been with me each and every step of the way
  October 27, 2011
• Portishead's Geoff Barrow on the Silver Apples and Banksy
  October 27, 2011

More About

• Gregg Araki
• Portishead
• Cocteau Twins

Owing a clear artistic debt to the smoky atmospheres and muscular rhythms of Portishead, Ode to the Marionette performs the kind of music you'd expect to hear in a club scene in a Gregg Araki movie. The outfit sounds a bit like the Cranes with a grounding in jazz lounge instead of direct inspiration from Isn't Anything or the Cocteau Twins. Singer Julia Brochey's upper-register vocals soar and dance over thick rhythms and provide a counterpoint to the low-end dynamism that is the hallmark of the band's sound. Marionette songs have a composed feel, but that adds to, rather than detracts from, the group's ability to stretch its own boundaries. With texture sharing equal sonic territory with melody and pacing, music from Ode to the Marionette (due at the Meadowlark on Friday, July 31) is soothing even as it gets under your skin.