Damn that Elizabeth Elmore.
After enamoring me during her days in Sarge, a sweet but hard-edged punk-rock band (think The Paybacks, with less aggression) that worked so well just because of that dissonance, she launched her band The Reputation with a self-titled debut--and to me, terrible results. But alas, she's found middle ground.
The Reputation's debut on Lookout! Records, "To Force a Fate," still rings with a more indie-pop sound than Sarge, but she's injected a great edge into the pre-established fold of bitter lyrics, a very pretty voice and subdued but tangible energy. Where The Reputation's debut was filled with turns of hook and phrase that were little more than matured Avril Lavigne, "Force" goes leaps and bounds beyond. The punchy and energetic "Bottle Rocket Battles" comes from an angry place--angrier sounding than anything since Sarge--with enough pace and continuity to keep the song bursting from beginning to end. And the record's masterpiece, "Follow-Through Time," carefully constructs a piano-guitar riff that alone would sell the track; but set behind Elmore's plaintive vocals, the song comes off as, dare I say, an advancement in pop music. The band is smart enough to bookend "Follow-Through Time" with one of the most easily addictive on the record, "Face It," which sounds almost bouncy compared to the previous two. A record consisting of nothing but the latter would have failed miserably, but as it is, "Face It" is almost an emotional respite and a bridge to further highlights in Elmore's progress as a songwriter.
The Reputation plays a CD-release party May 14 at the Double Door.
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"Ten Bands on the Verge"
If emo were a monarchy, Elizabeth Elmore would be its queen. Even though her band, The Reputation, isn't really emo by definition - she got the punk rock out of her system with her first and, Sarge - her ability to blend lyricism with the tone and feeling set inside the sometimes rocking, sometimes low-key music immediatley snuffs the most sensitive of emo boys. And she learns from her mistakes, too. The Reputation's first, self-titled record ahd all the trimmings of excessive self-obsession and a very half-finished feel to it. But on this year's "To Force a Fate," she reigned in the lyrical moaning without losing any bite insider her manhy tales of loves lost and passing ships, and she took a tangible step in the right direction musically as well, gradually integrating an occasional softer side but never at the cost of energy. Considering the tangible movement forward since her teenage days in Sarge, only a fool wouldn't expect The Reputation to get even better.
--Dave Chamberlain