Brix Smith - Valley Of the Dolls - The Singles, Reviewed

Brix Smith - Valley Of the Dolls - The Singles, Reviewed

Brix Smith is an undeniably great singer-songwriter, most well known for her six year stint in legendary English post-punk band The Fall, providing songwriting, guitar and additional vocals to many of their best loved 80s hits. Since then, she’s become somewhat of an elder stateswoman in the punk scene, well respected by many, with a number of other side projects, including Brix & The Extricated, to her name. Yet, despite her attempts with other pretty decent ventures like The Adult Net, and as great a musician as she is, it’s arguable that she’s never truly been able to escape the shadow of that initial, rather turbulent experience. But now, backed by indie super producer Martin Glover AKA Youth, Brix is set to unleash her first solo album, ‘Valley of the Dolls’ onto the world, releasing on March 3rd. So, let’s take a look at the singles to see what Brix is offering in her most uninhibited, personal form.

Fast Net

This third single is pretty rocking, that’s for sure. A dynamic tom beat is soon complimented by a rumbling, acrobatic bassline and catchy, classic sounding guitar riff. This then transitions into a heavy, pounding feel in the chorus which sounds pretty cool with a gnarly riff, and the retro, vocal-centric bridge is really nice too as the harmonies come together quite well. But, as you’ll read below, I criticized both previous singles for sounding sonically very similar, and the same applies here. While maybe not so much of a carbon copy as the other two are of each other, the basic structure of melodic, fairly straightforward verse + bashing, gnarly chorus + retro rock ‘n’ roll influence is still very obvious. The lyrics and vocals are a little weaker than their counterparts here too. While, again, the verses are pretty nice and melodic, the rapid fire, high pitched delivery in the pre-chorus sounds pretty awkward and irritating. The lyrics themselves feel a bit forced too, as if Brix wrote down every “rebel punk girl” stereotype she could think of and fit them in: she’s reckless, rude, sarcastic, uncontrollable, smokes, drinks, uses sex toys all the time, how rebellious! Apparently it’s meant to be an autobiographical track, so in a way I can appreciate how unapologetic it is, bIt’s just written in a way that feels very forced and a little cringey, and that lyric about “still doing time for soliciting a minor” is just straight up weird. So it’s not horrible, by and large music and most of the vocals are decent enough, but some of the spottier performances, blunt lyrics, as well as the one-dimensional songwriting becoming very obvious, makes it probably the weakest of the three.

Aphrodite

While being pretty straightforward, this is still a very enjoyable, riotous rock tune with a strong sense of melody. After a nice, upbeat guitar intro, the verse provides a more mid-paced melodic vibe. While the guitar lines underneath it are pretty standard as far as modern rock goes, Brix’s vocals are incredibly strong and distinctive throughout, with interesting lyrics seemingly musing on the idea of self love done with just a touch of punk attitude and moodiness, which goes over pretty well. The energetic post-chorus/post-bridge borrowing the riff and groove from the intro has a pretty cool, slamming vibe which is pretty effective, if made a little cheesy with the addition of “woo-hoo”s. The bridge with the use of vocal harmonies and percussion is pretty good, although the distorted vocal effect does come across a little tacky. Overall though, this thing is a pretty enjoyable, high-energy, melodic rock tune with a very solid vocal performance, and intriguing lyrics. Not reinventing the wheel by any means but still quite credible.

California Smile

This track is pretty decent too. Bookended by cheesy radio idents, this track again shares many of the same strengths of the last track. The bright, summery guitars and touches of synths complimented by Brix’s exuberant vocal performance work very well together to foster a bright, happy vibe. That might sound slightly too uppity for a Brix Smith track, but makes sense when you consider its role in contributing to the track’s subversion. Lyrically, this track discusses (from what I remember from her explanation at a live gig last October) how many a hopeful young woman arrives in Los Angeles, the idyllic sun beaming down, with hopes of becoming a celebrity, actress etc, only to end up working as hookers and strippers. So musically the track parallels this: the verses give off that initial sense of optimism, while the heavier, bashing chorus parts (again let down slightly by “woo-hoo”s) give a glimpse into the dark underbelly of LA, the post-chorus too offering a bit of old-school rock ‘n’ roll flair with it’s handclaps placed underneath a subtly sinister vocal melody. The only thing that really irks me about this track is its bridge, mainly featuring Brix fake moaning over a tense build up, which I guess ties into the track conceptually, but is still pretty awkward to listen to. Overall though the track is just another, pretty good, well-written, pop-tinged rock track. Although as a final point I would be remiss not to bring up the fact that this and ‘Aphrodite’ sound effectively identical both sonically and structurally, leading to them feeling a bit one-dimensional, adding to previous criticisms of being slightly generic.

Changing

This fourth and final single is, I suppose in a way, the most interesting of the bunch, primarily because it provides a welcome respite from the poppy garage rock of previous singles. Here, Brix opts for a more classic rock power ballad approach, and it certainly isn’t bad, in fact it goes over rather well. The verse portion of the track starts out with the classic, country sounding pairing of strung out clean guitars and tambourine, not too dissimilar to Iggy Pop’s ‘The Regency’ off of his newest album, and given that I really enjoyed that track, the fact I enjoyed this shouldn’t be too surprising. The way they compliment this with additional, more propulsive guitars and strings is done very tastefully as well. I also think that the more bombastic chorus section has a cool, slightly sinister undertone to it, and that, while not miles away from previous tracks, the way it’s framed gives it a really interesting dynamic, the last one being almost angelic. Of course, the subtly fuzzy guitar solo is also quite nice, but the strengths definitely lie most in the track’s main body. In terms of vocals and lyrics, this is definitely my favourite from her so far. She seamlessly switches from tender balladry to projected, raw, and slightly frustrated, all with a personal vulnerability that lends a lot to the track overall. A similar sense of earnestness comes through in the lyrics, with Brix discussing how it’s best to keep on going and evolve with life rather than dwelling on the past, while not forgetting it, taking the bull by the horns as it were. A very touching sentiment, and it’s not difficult to make the assumption that a certain band leading Mancunian and ex-husband was an inspiration for such words, in which case I doff my cap, because I thought this was very well done. So, while it might not completely reinvent the wheel, the multiple ways in which this track distinguishes itself from others makes its many strengths, musical, vocal and lyrical, all the more obvious.

So in terms of how I reckon the album might eventually turn out, while I didn’t have too many qualms with the actual music or songwriting on these tracks, I just hope that on the end product Brix can offer us an experience that’s more musically nuanced and personal, rather than one-dimensional or musically boilerplate. While some singles point towards the latter idea, thankfully, it seems at least in parts, the former is just as likely.