Search - Sissybar :: Statutory Grape

Cuddlecore? That's like so 1994, isn't it? Apparently not in Silver Lake, the L.A. neighborhood that spawned the six-piece girl band Sissy Bar. The group, in fact, is about as cuddly as a $7,000 Tickle Me Elmo doll. And unless you've already had your fill of plastic-flower-barrette hairstyles and Judy Blume flashbacks, chances are you'll find something warm and endearing about Sissy Bar's debut album, Statutory Grape. Just about everything having to do with Sissy Bar is so damn cute you can't decide whether to hug them or slap them silly. The voices are girly and angelic, the lyrics childlike. Synths blip and bleep like toys, while the banjo adds a playful down-home touch. Mix all this together with some clangy pop/punk-style bass, guitar, and drums, and you've got a group that combines the most precious elements of Beat Happening, Jonathan Richman, the B-52s, and L.A.'s that dog. The songs on Statutory Grape mostly run the gamut of sixth-grade experience. "Magic Bunny" investigates the mystical powers of stuffed animals. "Sad II Say" revisits the tragic story of how unicorns disappeared from the earth. "Why? (The Bowling Ball Song)" confronts the problem of people who borrow things and don't give them back. The faux earnestness works best when it's most overstated ("The Bellman"'s bizarre humor), but fails when it's least believable (their Jackie Collins tribute). At their most over-the-top, Sissy Bar succeed in turning Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Gin and Juice" into irresistible indie-pop. You haven't experienced gangsta rap until you've heard the girly voice of lead singer Joy sweetly cooing, "I've got bitches in the living room getting it on." Kids these days, I tell ya. --Roni Sarig