When last heard from, Juliette Beavan was adding her vocals to several tracks on the great Kill Hannah album For Never & Ever, produced by her husband, Sean (who also produced Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, etc.) The response was so overwhelmingly positive, the Beavans decided to give their own project a try, and the result is this 6-song, debut EP, released on their own Chelsea Girl imprint. The title track is a perfect introduction to Juliette's sultry, little girl vocals and also features some stellar guitar soloing from Sean. "Crawl" is a gothic noir shaggy-dog story recited by Juliette and again featuring Sean's blistering solo. I was reminded favorably of The Modette's '80's classic, "Dark Park Creeping" welded to the late night, rainy, smoky, jazzy vibe of Portishead. The EP ends on the high note of "Give It Up," a swirling, dreamy floater highlighted once again by Juliette's exquisite serpentining vocal acrobatics.
Combining the snarl of a Shirley Manson (manager Shannon O'Shea also discovered and managed Garbage) with the girl-next-door sweetness of an Olivia Newton-John, Juliette is the aural equivalent of the virgin and the whore... the lady and the tiger... the wife and the mistress... all rolled into one. Her alluring pin-up looks will draw you in and the emotional static electricity generated by her half-dozen twisted tales of romance, regret and neglect will have you cowering at her feet, drooling for more. A mouthwateringly delectable debut.
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