The Organ
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Katie Sketch - Vocals Debora Cohen - Guitar Ashley Webber - Bass Jenny Smyth - Hammond Organ Shelby Stocks - Drums |
Click here to view Rock Sounds review The Organ are a Vancouver quintet, formed in 2001. In a short space of time this all female ensemble gained rapid exposure with the release of a limited edition 7”, the ‘Sinking Hearts’ EP and recently their debut album ‘Grab That Gun’ in their native Canada. Now the EP and 7” tracks have been combined for a UK release on Sink and Stove as the perfect introduction to this exciting new band. The Organ write melodic and introspective music based on layered interplay between their instrumentalists; Debora Cohen - guitar; Ashley Webber - bass; Shelby Stocks - drums; Jenny Smyth - Hammond organ; and the intimate and doleful lyrics of their lead singer Katie Sketch. The Organ’s ‘sound’ has been commented on and debated over from the very beginning, so great is the fascination that it inspires. “The Organ’s melancholy melodies are intoxicating,” writes Cyndi Elliot of Magnet Magazine. The band is consistently compared with the best songwriters of the early ’80s new-wave, writing structured songs around minimal arrangements, and creating a nuanced, textured sound that can be brooding and catchy at the same time. The best of many bands can be found here — whether it is the weaving counterpoint melodies between organ and bass; the lean, bell-like intonation of sparkling guitars; the charmed tenacity of the snare; or the suspended lamentation of Sketch’s cascading vocals — and much excitement is borne out of the desire to name The Organ’s sound in precise terms. The band has become well known for the somber intensity of their live performances; “The Organ’s approach is classic European detachment,” writes Michael White of Calgary’s News and Entertainment Weekly, “It creates an enveloping mood, and fully complements the music’s soulful melancholy.” And perhaps it is a testament to the saliency of Sketch’s dark lyrical themes that range from relationships to politics to urban life. The Organ have played with a wide variety of contemporary bands such as Interpol, Hot Hot Heat, The Walkmen, The Von Bondies, The Soledad Brothers; and most recently finished a tour across North America with Matador’s New Pornographers. Following a CMJ performance in New York in October ’04, The Organ will hit UK shores in 2005. |