CD Reviews

Torres | Torres

Self-released (2013)

By DAN WEISS | February 26, 2013

3.0 Stars

Twenty-two-year-old Mackenzie Scott's homemade music floats somewhere between the cathedral jangle of 10,000 Maniacs and the buzzy churn of EMA. It's easy to imagine her getting very famous, because Torres doesn't wash the songs out with its prettiness. And she ain't ambient. The Pitchfork-certified standout, "Honey," repeats its mantra about "what you done to me" until it reaches a speaker-blowing croak that actually evokes PJ Harvey's "To Bring You My Love." "When Winter's Over" prioritizes rock, but Torres is overall more meditative. Rather than hooks, Nashville's Scott spins quietly intense loops from her range à la Robert Fripp's guitar — when you remember something, it's less for the melody than the eerie glide she's made of it. Most notable is how her guttural notes on an earthy ballad like "Come to Terms" travel to space on "November Baby" without ever loosening her grip on your collar. Feist should project such hunger.

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