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| | Issue #20.02 :: 08/06/2008 - 08/12/2008 | Ruby Rendrag
"Wartime Favorites"
| BY DINO LULL
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Ruby Rendrag
"Wartime Favorites"
ARC Music
AUGUSTA, GA - Ruby Rendrag has been a solo artist for only three years now, but she’s earned her bragging rights the hard way: playing in numerous music groups. Her backing band is no slouch either, as many of them can lay the same claim.
It should come as no surprise that the "Wartime Favorites" album by solo artist Ruby Rendrag is a tight, well put together piece of musicianship from veterans of the New Orleans music scene. Moody and bluesy, it packs an infectious little punch into all twelve songs.
Some of the best musicians have come from New Orleans, a city usually known for the Dixieland Jazz style. While Ruby Rendrag may not have much traditional jazz sound in her music, there is definitely an eclectic rocking singer-songwriter attitude to her music that is a mainstay of New Orleans rock ‘n’ roll.
Often, like early '90s girl rock groups such as the Breeders or Liz Phair, as demonstrated on the rollicking opening track “Not Today,” the New Orleans native pounds out catchy, grungy songs backed with a tight symphonic sound. Other tracks like “Nothing” carry a more somber note, lonely and slower. She also does a really inspired cover of Radiohead’s “High and Dry.” One of the best songs on the album is “W-26,” slow and melodic with a foot pumping pace, it brings together haunting Pixies-esque background sounds to a western campfire ditty. Deeply rich with a moody, bluesy sound, “W-26” is a perfect song fraught with emotional turmoil. While other songs like “Anything You Are” remind one of the more emotionally-based rock of Ani DiFranco or Frente. Still, other tracks like “Meditation” carry a more upbeat traditional New Orleans feeling. “I’m Gonna Go Crazy” is toe-tapping, catchy and sultry. The piano solo is classic old school.
While "Wartime Favorites" may be Ruby Rendrag’s second album since going solo in 2005, it is really the record to introduce her sound.
Not just your average singer-songwriter fare, "Wartime Favorites" packs in a mixture of classically trained musicianship and deeply personal female vocals for an album that keeps a hum in the back of the throat and feet bouncing along to the catchy beats. | |
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