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charlotte
robinson, venus magazine
"The debut from Seattle three-piece Ripley is an assured collection
of alternative pop-rock songs. Moody yet melodic, Ripley sometimes sounds
like one of its influences, Throwing Muses, or a less ornamented version
of Belly. Like the latter group's leader, Tanya Donelly, Jessie...sings
skewed lyrics like those on the title track: "My bones are too goddamn
loud / They tell me they miss you / They want to feel pinned to the ground."
Other tracks, like "Treading Water," "Gold Star,"
and "Cursed," show that Ripley has a more radio-friendly side.
Hypermobile proves that even though grunge may be dead, Seattle remains
a breeding ground for strong bands.
amazon.com
Riff rockers will love the guitar; will nod along to the rhythm
twins. Halfway through, indie rock archeologists will lose the Tanya/Kristin
Beantown scene comparisons. Look out Olympia and beyond! The album is
always melodic, sometimes hard, sometimes heavy, sometimes jangly, sometimes
sexy, maybe even funny. Yeah, its a little scary with those lyrics
sent up by a sharp woman in a black dress...{hypermobile}, let it jump
around in your CD player awhile. Youll like it. Itll be good
to you.
{hypermobile} is a surprisingly mature and sophisticated first album.
It ranges from the seductively off kilter first track (in 6/4) Treading
Water, to the rocking Wait or Hypermobile.
Jessie S.K.s
highly controlled meanderings remind me a bit
of Throwing Muses - cramming lots of ideas into songs without losing track
of where its heading. The simple guitar, strong base lines, and
solid drumming are propulsive without being
intrusive.
dana
weiss, threeimaginarygirls.com
With her newly bleached hair and her red leather guitar strap with
the stars on it, [Jessie] heads her band with force, a solid presence...Ripley
play guitar-driven rock and roll, with lyrical themes centered on broken
hearts and the twisted rubbish they leave behind. Who cant relate
to that? In fact, Ripley is easy to relate to, both lyrically and musically...It
was nice listening to a band where the lyrics were mostly intelligible.
The fact that they were intelligible plus intelligent was even better.
Judging from their live performance, the CD is well worth the $10 investment.
artistlaunch.com
I like the sound of this band; 10,000 Maniacs getting kicked in
the pants by Blur - versatile guitarist, raging drummer, on-target bassist,
heartbreakingly plaintive singer. Good dimension for such a sparse arrangement.
Anytime a song takes relatively simple (but creative) parts and assembles
them in a way that adds up to a sum that is greater than those parts....well,
thats the magic that songwriters/performers try for
simple
guitar, percussion and vocals pieced together to form a finished song
that is fresh and different. Very slick and original piece, bravo!
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