March 1998 Access Magazine Little Songs
Review
By: Sean Plummer
The original title of MOIST singer David Usher's solo debut was Little Songs
To Fuck By. The title change was to be expected, but it's worth keeping
in mind as you listen to this sometimes bizarre, sometimes claustrophobic
record. Like David Lynch's films, Usher's music and lyrics are familiar
and disconnecting at the same time, full of turth but not necessarily logic.
(I can imagine Usher playing these songs for his bandmates and them making a
call to the local sanitarium for a quick pick-up.) Not that the music is
unappealing; Usher's instrumentation is focussed and spare mostly acoustic
guitar with occasional murky electrobeats, trumpets and cellos; it's just
frightening at times. Will the adorning moppets who tape MOIST posters up
in their school lockers and scream at the sight of Usher appreciate the
perversity of songs like "Unholy, Dirty And Beautiful" or "Jesus Was My Girl"?
Probably not, but that's good. Let them be confused. Expectations, after
all, are meant to be confounded.
return to main page