Smoosh: She Like Electric

If you’ve heard anything on ace Seattle sister duo Smoosh, it’ll no doubt concern the young ladies’ ages. True, combine the two – singer/writer/keyboardist Asya and drummer Chloe – and you’ll still get a figure under 25. But to put in context, that’s still roughly half the age of Justin Hawkins.

Smoosh delivered this sultry, charming debut album last year in their home country, but so far it has remained an import only treasure in Europe. After months of supports with Cat Power, Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab et al at the Sasquatch! and CMJ festivals, word of the girls’ effervescent pop brilliance began trickling over the pond, leading to this oversight finally being remedied.

She Like Electric is a disarmingly multi-faceted mixture of piano-driven pop (‘It’s Not Your Day To Shine’, ‘But Now I Know’), fuzzy rock (‘La Pump’) and wickedly playful dance-pop (Daphne & Celeste would have traded their legwarmers for the rap on ‘Rad’). Still, it’s the band’s uncanny way with a hook that sees them shining most brightly, as on the heartfelt ‘It’s Cold’ and the brooding, intense ‘Make It Through’ (“If you are what you are, and I am what I am/I think we can make it through”).

Those who demand their 16-year-olds are in bed by eight will gawp at the emotional depth of the lyrics, freak out at the injokes (“The bone daddy’s back!!” – ‘The Quack’) and hopefully toss out their Vanessa Carlton CDs for good. I still really wanna see grannies play rock music, though. Then I can die happy.