Screaming Females
Rose Mountain
Some of my favorite albums today are ones that I didn't really care for on a first listen. Maybe it's just a sadly postmodern view of the world, but I really like it when something changes my opinion of it without ever changing itself. The list is fairly embarassing actually; Nirvana's Nevermind, Talking Heads' '77 and R.E.M.'s Lifes Rich Pagaent all had the unenviable task of changing not only my opinion of the album, but the band's entire catalog.
Even more rare are those albums from artists I already love, but take a turn from expectations and end up becoming an absolute favorite. We've all heard the world's dumbest argument; 'the early shit was better'. That begins with the first album that changes what we view the artist is about. While we, as 'real' music fans, expect artists to constantly evolve from album to album, we also aren't very forgiving of them when they do and it doesn't meet our own imaginary standards. It's a viscous circle. How does Radiohead get award nominations for Kid A while The Strokes get derided for Angles? I don't know. I do know that the newest outing from Screaming Females, Rose Mountain, is going to be one of those decisive turnpoint albums and I will be staunchly supporting it as their best record yet.
A lot of the artists I mentioned earlier are considered some of the most important American rock bands of the last few generations. I purposely mention them in this writing because I also feel that the Screaming Females will end up easily being included in that category, even if most fans don't know it yet. The band features Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals, Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and King Mike on bass. Mike and Marissa formed a band in high school under the name Surgery On TV. After several lineup changes they finally decided on the trio and a name change to Screaming Females. The Screaming Females got their start in the basement show scene of New Brunswick, NJ. Shows were held in the houses of various bands, students, and residents, so people under 21 could attend. Yes, occasionally a show would be held at the house of someone's parents. But, over just the last few years, the band has gone on to achieve success with a wider exposure, having been featured on NPR, Last Call with Carson Daly, and MTV.
In 2012, Marissa was named the 77th greatest guitarist of all time by Spin magazine. That seems like a bold statement from Spin, but not really to those of us that are familiar with the Screaming Females. I've heard the term 'force of nature' used to describe a lot of different musicians in my lifetime, but Paternoster is the first person that I think of when that term comes to mind. Her Jello Biafra-esque lilting punk vocal has the power to tear skin away from a human body and it is only matched by her fantastic axe wielding. By the time of their 2014 release of Live at the Hideout (produced by Steve Albini), I was absolutely convinced that Marissa was this generation's greatest rock star and that her band were the most important punk band in the world today.
That brings us to this newest release on Don Giovanni Records, Rose Mountain. The first thing that fans will notice and undoubtedly be up in arms about is the fact that this new set drastically scales back Paternoster's full frontal rock assault in favor of more subtle grooves and (dare I say) pop-oriented melodies.
Producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, the Sword) has the unenviable task of being the first non-Albini to produce the Females and I imagine he is going to take a lot of the heat for the cleaner sound of Rose Mountain. But, I don't believe it is Bayles driving the shift at all. A song like "Wishing Well" was written explicitly as a quieter, melodic change. That could only have come from the band themselves. If anything, I actually think Bayles production here is flatter than you'd find on the last studio album Ugly.
So here is where the rub begins. Your back immediately goes up and the internet flares up with thoughtful comments like, "I don't listen to no Screaming Females because I want to hear no fucking BALLADS!" To be fair, that isn't accurate. At least three of those words will be misspelled and there will probably be more capital letters involved. I think that argument is bullshit to begin with. You listen to a song like "Ripe", "Burning Car" or "Triumph" and tell me this band isn't rocking just as hard as they were a year ago at the Hideout. I'll say you are full of shit. Furthermore, a song like "Triumph" is the ultimate example of where the Screaming Females can take this new sound. It has a clear arc (rather than the band's previous signature of starting loud and ending loud) that makes this track the strongest individual song the band has written yet.
Rose Mountain is an album that grows on me with each new listen. The more melodic tracks like "Wishing Well" and "Hopeless" give this album a sort of dynamic that previous Screaming Females records have lacked. As a full collected work, Rose Mountain feels more complete than anything the band has done before it. At worst, this album will be seen much in the same way the Ramones' Phil Spector-produced End of the Century is; a strange gem in the catalog that divides fans along one bright line. But, I believe this album is more than that. This is the moment where that 'Great American Rock Band' that I've envisaged the Screaming Females to be is starting to take shape and present itself to the world. Just because the box that they are giving you is a little prettier, it doesn't mean the dick inside is any smaller.