The Whispertown 2000 - Swim - Album Review

by Jon Lusk
Although it's not clear where they got the name from, The Whispertown 2000 is an improvement on Vagtown 2000, the stage moniker that lead singer and songwriter Morgan Naylor used to go by. On first listen, this LA-based indiefolk band's second album sounds like a half-arsed, ramshackle mess fronted by a woman who can't hold a tune. Persevere, because Naylor's chameleonesque vocal persona soon begins to work its magic, and her inventive way with melodies starts making sense.

It's hardly surprising the first band to sign to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings Acony label should have an ear for semi-acoustic alt. country, and even backwoods hoedowns, but Whispertown 2000 also revel in light touches of psychedelia. Get past the throwaway playground chant of 103, and that becomes apparent in the backwards guitars and dreamy backing vocals of Done With Love. Naylor has a distinctive and appealing way of toying with words, first evident on the phrase, ''tell everyone I'm done with love'.

Erase The Lines takes the wiggyness further, with surreal lyrics (''spotted tiger spotted me''), unhinged whistling and a percussive crescendo. Both this and the carefree country strum of Lock And Key suggest an affinity with (fellow Californian) Ryan McPhun's band The Ruby Suns.

On the electric soul/blues gumbo of Ebb And Flow, Naylor's shrill tones seem to echo blue-eyed soul firebrand Laura Nyro, while on Mountain she's closer to an extra-sulky Cat Power offering a twisted take on The Rolling Stones' Love In Vain. So yeah, the 1960s live on in the 2000s.

Aside from a few guests, brothers Casey and Tod Adrian Wisenbaker play most of the instruments, with harmony vocalist Vanessa Corbala shadowing Naylor for much of the album, and sounding almost like a sister. When she’s absent,as on the stripped-down drawl of No Dope, Naylor's slightly contrived
tendency to sing off-key does grate a little. But if it were cleaned up and straightened out, this music might lose much of its appeal. Even so, the four-part vocal harmonies of Atlantis (also featuring Welch and Jenny Lewis) suggest that may not be the case.

source: bbc.co.uk/music