Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Exmaid, Neurotic Fantasies, 2016

EP Review

As a former or current member of bands like Hunchback, Full Of Fancy, Black Wine, and Noun, Miranda Taylor is a Very Important Person in the annals of New Jersey DIY music. Yesterday, Taylor released Neurotic Fantasies under the moniker Exmaid. The EP is a solo effort, produced and engineered by Eric Bennett at Asbury Park's Lakehouse Recording Studios; but the Exmaid live line-up consists of Taylor along with Joe DeCarolis, Dave Cherasaro, and Larry Ragone of Philadelphia's Psychic Teens.

There's a heavy psych-rock element to both opener "Sports" and second track "Easy." That contrasts with Taylor's vocals which push things over into something more ethereal or dream poppy. Both tracks play into the EP's title vibe with lyrics like "You're really something else I never thought I'd win" on "Sports" and "Please don't watch me for a while. I'm feeling anxious, and what I saw hurt me inside" on "Easy."

"Gone" is pummeling and surfy. The vocals in the verse are darker and more distorted than on the previous two tracks, and they work as a bit of call and response with the chorus of "Now you're dead and gone."

"Catholic School" recounts some scenes from "catholic school week" over more heavy guitar. There are the seeds of rebellion and some fantasizing about breaking free from the constraints of the past. "The past makes a mockery of all our future plans," Taylor sings. "We'll see about that. I will be Goddamned. Over my dead body..."

Neurotic Fantasies closes with a haunting rendition of "Once I Had a Sweetheart." There's a sense of loneliness and loss as Taylor's vocals float over a quiet drone and the occasional tweet of a bird. There's a "that'll show em" sentiment in the song's final line. "False love will weep for me after I'm gone."

Throughout Neurotic Fantasies, there are swings between darkness and light, heaviness and dreaminess, self-doubt and self-confidence. It draws on elements of psych rock, post punk, and dream pop. Together, that makes for a simultaneously complex and accessible listen.

Nerotic Fantasies is available now at Exmaid's Bandcamp page.

Exmaid play their first show on December 10th at New Brunswick's Volume IV with Secretary Legs, Adam Finchler and Blankside.

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