Women

The debut album by Women was recorded over 4 months on ghetto blasters and old tape machines in Chad VanGaalen’s basement, an outdoor culvert and a crawl space. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this self titled album touches upon Velvet Underground, Swell Maps or This Heat while not really having any obvious precursors - a lo-fi masterpiece cloaked in layers of vibrato and guitar wash.

Noisy and claustrophobic songs smash through junkyard trash brawls while others lift and soar across the landscape of 50’s-informed pop; a contradiction and an enigma, the debut album by Women will find its way onto summertime pool break-in boombox mixes and the turntables of record store devotees.

Women is Patrick Flegel, Matthew Flegel, Michael Wallace and Christopher Reimer, and the four young men live in Calgary, Canada.

Public Strain CD / LP (JAG152, released: 09/28/10)

On their debut self-titled album, Women embraced sonic brashness that deeper examination revealed to be tinted with sly pop melody. With "Public Strain" the band honed a sound truth ful to that reverb drenched noise while allowing the pop sensibilities to surface into clearer focus.

In fall o f 2009, Patrick Flegel (vocals/guitar), Matt Flegel (bass vocals), Chris Reimer (guitar/vocals), and Michael Wallace (drums) went into the studio with an abundance of ideas, working around conflicting schedules and graveyard shifts. With Chad VanGaalen again on production duties, the band laboriously crafted a timeless sounding recording over the dead of winter in Alberta, Canada. The result exploits their usage of harsh, grating dissonance in smaller and controlled doses, using noise as the foundation for richly structured, layered songwriting.

From the opening strains of "Can’t You See" it’s clear that the album is far more than just a continuation of their debut. Resting upon Matt Flegel’s plodding bass line, Patrick Flegel’s deadpan vocal delivery, and Chris Reimer on bowed guitars and cello, this moody, nocturnal ballad opens the album on a dark note – one that is quickly countered by "Heat Distraction", a jigsaw of bright guitar phrases and winding time.