NO WOMEN in WOMEN ?Four guys from Calgary who get serious and make a serious impressionBy Alicks Girowski Women is the band, but unlike their name, there are no women to be seen. Featuring brothers Matt and Pat and high school buddies Chris and Mike Women is made up of four talented gentlemen. So what's the story behind this Calgary 4 piece causing quite the commotion not only in the Canadian scene, but recently in the American scene, with the release of their debut self titled album? Recorded by friend, label mate and producer extraordinaire Chad Vangaalen, Women is laced with psychedelic pop harmonies of the 60's, eerie echoes that build to a crescendo all glazed with the lo-fi goodness common to Vangaalen's style. Tracks like "Woodbine" make you feel like Women are building to something, anything, and just like that you're thrown into one of my favourite tracks on the album "Black Rice." All this talk of the music on the record, and I haven't heard any commentary on the band's use of the Felix Greene's photo for Women's art work. Greene, a British/American photo journalist in the '60s and '70s was one of the first to capture the happenings in communist countries like China. With the Olympics taking place, I couldn't help but wonder why Women chose the art work they did. "Honestly, I've been obsessed with that picture since I first saw it in a Chinese Medicine book I got from the Public Library" Pat writes. "I cut it out, photocopied it 8 times onto 11" X 17" and had the 8 copies lined up across my living room wall. It was the only thing on the wall and it made me feel great. We are happy about how it looks on the vinyl. We love patriotism and sports, and still failed to realize that the Olympics would be in China when our album was coming out!" Whether they were trying to make a statement with the cover work or not, one thing is absolutely clear, Women have made quite an impact with their music. |