The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Music
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Download  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features  |  New England Music News

Rings

Black Habit | Paw Tracks
By RICHARD BECK  |  March 5, 2008
3.5 3.5 Stars
inside_RINGS---BLACK-HABIT
The members of the Brooklyn-based trio Rings — Nina Mehta, Abby Portner, and Kate Rosko — are hippies with focus. Sharing instrumental duties on their debut full-length, they make use of piano, clean guitars, and tom-tom-heavy drums to construct knotty, organic instrumental loops that reward close listening with subtle compositional twists and turns. All three members sing, contributing everything from ghostly, repetitious half-phrases to chirpy speak-singing. Although the disc’s childlike sensibility does reflect Rings’ unabashed naïveté and idealism (consider song titles like “All Right Peace” and “Mom Dance”), they never fall into the trap of yearning for nothing in particular. Weird occasional flurries of synthesized chaos on the closing track, “Teepee,” as well as a startling moment of rhythmic crying on “Is He Handsome” create the impression that Rings are after a wide-eyed openness to all the possibilities of emotional and interpersonal life, even the ugly ones.
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

Today's Event Picks
Plus 6 more >>
ARTICLES BY RICHARD BECK
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: RICHARD BECK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 
HOT TOPICS
 More Topics . . .
LATEST SLIDESHOWS

All Slideshows



Thursday, January 08, 2009  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group