(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Shivaree is mainly Ambrosia Parsley's vehicle to deliver
in a hoarse register halfway between Stevie Nicks and the Cardigans.
The effectiveness of her songs owe a lot to the arrangements of her two
partners, veteran session-men Duke McVinnie on guitar and
Danny McGough on keyboards. They populate the music with a little zoo of
quirky noises, keyboard drones and bass hooks, coupled with the least
predictable rhtyhm machines on record.
I Oughtta Give You A Shot In The Head For Making Me Live In This Dump (Capitol, 2000)
boasts the splendid multi-colored fusion of Goodnight Moon, an upbeat
atmospheric shuffle with girlish vocals and gloomy melody that sounds
as if Britney Spears had suddenly morphed into Bilie Holliday
and was fronting the Doors, and the tender, heart-wrenching
Idiot Waltz, whose piano and guitar resonate like rings in a pond.
Parsley's singing and the duo's backing shine on existential late-hour ballads
that draw from a broad range of genres:
the smoky, noir, trip-hopping country of Bossa Nova,
the suspenseful spiritual ballad Arlington Girl, that has the solemn
martial tempo of a requiem and the soft caressing warmth of Macy Gray,
or the sleepy I Don't Care, that sounds like the
Cowboy Junkies augmented with Hawaian guitar and jazz trombone.
Doses of funk and soul enhance the nonchalant storytelling of
Daring Lousy Guy
and propel the feverish dance of Pimp.
Parsley impersonations include Juliana Hatfield in the carefree meditation of
Oh No, Tom Waits in the drunken reminescence of Lunch
Everything has been carefully sprayed with demented instrumental breaks and
disco/hip hop beats.
Goodnight Moon became a hit when included in two film soundtracks.
The band still released
the EP Corrupt and Immoral Transmissions (2000) ,
the album Rough Dreams (Odeon, 2002),
the EP Breach (2004), the album Who's Got Trouble? (Odeon, 2005),
and a collection of covers, Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs (2007).
Parsley debuted solo on Weeping Cherry (Fargo, 2013).
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