The Spores - Imagine the Future

Genre rock Publisher Sidecho Records External Links Official The Spores Website Official Sidecho Records Website

Even on paper Molly McGuire is an intimidating characterïhaving worked with such respected icons as Frank Black (of Pixies fame), Queens of the Stone Age and electro-punk sex-shocker Peaches, and having provided the bass lines for earthlings? and Rhudabaga ï but to date her most commanding post is behind a hand-sewn puppet in knee-high boots.

The Spores are the embodiment of McGuire's personal grand vision, a three-piece electric-rock ensemble that fully embraces her rock upbringings even while twisting them around techno breakdowns and pairing them with her smooth and often haunting vocals. And then there are the puppets. The abstract and purposefully disturbing puppets portray the many alter-egos of the band members, with "Indyan Summer" and "Stunbunny" representing McGuire and drummer Greg Biribauer, respectively. While Kenny Pierce mans the sticks and Greg "Stunbunny" Biribauer works his way around the neck in the background, Miss McGuire provides the vocals and parades her awkward army of kooky caricatures in front of a captivated and certainly confused crowd.

With all of the puppetry and theatrics, it becomes easy to forget the entire reason for the season: music. Thankfully, out of the calamitous mish-mash of studio art, performance art, and puppetry rises a sound that only such a bizarre scenario could fosterïa sound that burrows deep into the recesses of your ear only to branch its way into the pop receptors in your brain, take root, and infect. The Spores, indeed.

"Mandibles," the lead track on Imagine the Future, fades in with a surprisingly catchy little synthesized loop which melts seamlessly into the foreboding drum-beat and breathily chilling vocal work of McGuire, creating a completely foreboding atmosphere. With the lyrics "Cross-pollination is taking place" and an impressive set of time changes and trippy guitar fills, this first track easily leads the listener to feeling that they're being transported, or at the least, transformed.

Adding to the reality-warp feeling, "(Don't) Kill Yourself," feels very much like just another pop-rock-ballad, with the exception of the chorus and overall theme of the song which is, despite what the title may lead you to believe, "Kill yourself." Although, it is a catchy little number, and with the unique ability to inject you with equal parts understated depression and agitated bliss.

From the sweet release of "(Don't) Kill Yourself," however, things get a bit less satisfying. "Moon Shine Down" turns out to be a quality yet uninteresting exercise in 1980's synth-pop, "Heat Seeker" fizzles into something of a bland, gray, Bjork-meets-Garbage blob lacking the substance to adhere to even the most receptive memory cells, and the techno-tinged title track earns even less mention.

"Love My Mind," however, easily picks up the slack. This ridiculously catchy track is heavily distorted but skillfully played, and the chorus is one of the most oddly appealing and creepy vocal selections to grace the airwaves in a long while, if ever. For added emphasis, check out the video on the band's website.

"Veal" catchy beats and synthesizer loops make it a powerfully addictive pop tune, but the vocals drag it back to mediocrity. Sometimes it's just hard to relate to someone who "...feel[s]/Feels like veal."

Remember the classic "piss-everyone-over-five-years-old" electronic noise gun? (Think: Machine Gun - Laser - Grenade Launcher -Laser/Bomb - Phaser/Laser - Full Aerial Assault Bomb - Machine Gun...) Unless you have yet to grow tired of this classic lesson in aggravation and aural torture, "Big Brother" might rub you the wrong way.

The rest of the album blends itself into bland smoothie of semi-techno beats and catchy guitar riffs, with tasty but short-lived bursts of indie-experimental-pop bliss sprinkled throughout. "Daffodil," the closing track is by leaps the most awkwardly arranged and generally un-listenable track presented, and will leave quite the awful taste in your brain.

As they are with many things, the highs here are surprisingly high, while the lows are almost devastatingly low. It is obvious that Molly McGuire has a lot to show-and-tell to the world, and it seems these awkward first steps on her own are definitely in the right direction. Appropriately enough, though, to fully appreciate this work it appears that it is best to imagine the future. If you're looking for a newly-recycled and newly-re-combined sound, or maybe just something to weird out on for a while, look no furtherïwhether or not you intend them to, The Spores will grow on you.