Lioness - Lioness

Genre rock Publisher Sonic Unyon

Lioness is out and haunting. Wait, isn’t Halloween over? Yes it is. However, the debut release of self-titled EP from the Canadian threesome, Lioness, is just beginning to lurk through the undercurrents of punk rock. Vanessa Fischer (formerly of “No Dynamics”) vocally fronts Lioness; with Jeff Scheven and Ronnie Morris (once part of the disco group Controller, Controller) are letting loose with a shadowy form of rock that is dark and altogether mysterious. 

The band came together in the winter of 2007, playing after hour sets for the locales in the damp, dark clubs of Toronto. The fusion of Fischers brawny vocals, deep bass chords and the simplicity of stripped down drums create a uniquely cavernous house meets electronic disco style. The sound is comparative to “Death Disco” a song from “Public Image Ltd.” Think Tim Burton converges on electric house. Mastered by Nilesh "Nilz" Patel at The Exchange in London and recorded at Signal To Noise in Toronto with Rob Sanzo. (controller.controller, Danko Jones, Sum 41) Are they just another punk rock band? Not quite. The members of Lioness have expanded into other creative avenues as well. Fisher has shown her flair for fashion working as costume designer on “Cock’d Gunns”, a Gemini nominated small screen movie. Scheven has been busy working on music videos for “Death From Above”, “TV On The Radio” and “Dragonette”. Morris has already completed two university degrees in Art and History and has sights set on a third.  

The symbolism in the name Lioness is not a mistake; the tracks do possess a fierceness emanating from Fischer. Even with the painfully slow lead-in, “You’re my heart” is the most entertaining track opening to a house trance rhythm filled with grating dread. Track two “Harder they Fall” has irritatingly repetitive lyrics cloaked in darkness and despair. The Interlude could be a challenging of spirits with chilling wind chimes and ambient distortion (or at least be a soundtrack to a B-grade horror movie scene) “Haunted Magick” is a dense saturation of gouging electronic beats that lingers on and on. With chanting lyrics such as “The dead don’t bleed, the dead don’t cry, the dead sleep still, as we collide.” in the song “What you do will come back to haunt you” there is not much to differentiate one song from another they are all most dark in nature and similar in theme.

Music connects to its listeners through many ways and can be in the form of lyrics, arrangements, beat or rhythm, etc. Somewhere in a deep, dark space, there is a discrete niche of youth that will associate themselves to Lioness’ style. Luckily, for them there is enough room in the musical jungle for all.