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You can always expect to hear more than a few bumps in the road on a debut
album, and Brooklyn trio Sharkmuffin does nothing to buck that trend. Luckily
for them, debut albums are all about potential—and Sharkmuffin manages to
show just enough (and I mean just enough) of it for one to hold out hope (for
now) through what is a mostly disappointing album.
The band has no problem grabbing your attention early with its loud, fast,
and beachy rock vibes. I found myself head-banging (in a Maroon 5 sort of way)
after about five seconds of listening to the opening track, “Broken Teeth.” And if I can be sexist for just a moment, it is so refreshing to hear a female vocalist at the head of a band with this kind of sound.
Anyway, pumped up and ready to roll, “Chartreuse” gave me more of that
“Broken Teeth” sound, and I was all too happy to head-bang along. Then I
started getting dizzy and nauseous, and I discovered a minute later that the
following track, “First Date” didn’t offer much of a reprieve. Neither did the next track, “I Called You from the Moon”—which, while a little different in terms of being more similar to something the 5.6.7.8’s would play, sounded similar enough to the first three songs that I began to wonder if this was going to continue through the whole album.
And, unfortunately, it did. Although Sharkmuffin tries to change it up a little by chopping up or slowing down the rhythm in a few songs, like “Mondays,” “Now,” and “Straight Lines,” it does little to change the fact that each song is a dynamically barren mix of loud guitar, clashing drums, and a screaming woman.
It was only during the last song—when I had almost given up hope, having had
the majority of the album suck the life out of the first two songs—when
hope glimmered from the back in the form of “Tampons Are for Sluts’”. It is
here that I felt like I was finally hearing some of the band’s personality, as
a playful bass line was allowed to carry parts of the song, the tempo actually
shifted back and forth, and the lead singer finally showed some diversity in
her volume levels. The overall sound comes across as a tweaked-up version of
something The Offspring would play, which I will take any day of the week. Now if
they can harness that sound, find a way to mix it in with what I heard in
“Broken Teeth,” and keep improving on their slower numbers, there can really
be something special here. Here’s hoping.
