“Harmonic Dissonance” is an oxymoron, I am pretty sure. But it works for me when attempting to distill the essence of Kissing Cousins new EP, Unfortunate End . I don’t write much about new music these days, because (come closer please, so no one will hear us say such things) most of it just sucks really fails to resonate with me in any way. And that’s just a shame. But I do like Kissing Cousins, this band of ladies from Los Angeles, who have a new EP due for release on Tuesday May 17th entitled Unfortunate End. The members of Kissing Cousins include Heather Heywood, Alexis Woodall, Amanda Paganini and Beth Zeigler and, honestly, they are quite talented and rocking.
Lyrically, according to the band’s bio, the four songs on the EP explore the unfortunate ends of four different female protagonists, which is very “Southern Gothic” and reason to be excited right out of the gate. “You Bring Me Down” reminds me of the exhilaration I felt listening to Hole’s Live Through This for the first time, about a million billion years ago. Except, unlike Courtney Love, Heather Heywood can actually sing. And since that’s the Hole album for which Kurt Cobain wrote all the songs, you know that’s some high praise, right there. “Throw Her Body in the River” sounds like a companion piece to PJ Harvey’s “Down By The Water” – which, if you’re going to wear your influences on your sleeve, borrow from the best, amiright? The tranquil, gloriously languid “Granny Get Your Gun” captures the soporific qualities of Mazzy Star or The Cowboy Junkies before this ambitious EP leaves you jonesing for a fix of the full length CD by closing with the foreboding but comparatively jaunty “Pale White.” When the EP is over, I play it again. And again. And I just never do that anymore. The band’s press kit states that with Unfortunate End, Kissing Cousins continue in a long tradition of redefining what it is to be in a “girl band” and what it is to sound feminine, southern and ultimately, unique. I would tend to concur.
GRADE: A+