Dirty Laundry by smothered

"I first encountered Smothered frontwoman Taylor Watt when we were both sacrificial locals for a couple of touring poets who were reading at Recycled Books. (I am a reporter, not a poet, but when someone asks and it's my week for doing something new, I can't refuse.) The Denton native's grandmother had just passed, and she read a poem she'd written in her memory, in which her departed dear one's phone number (does anybody still remember phone numbers?) served as a recurring refrain, giving the piece the power of an incantation. When she finished, even the veteran headliners were visibly impressed by Watt's courageous self-disclosure.

So, it was no surprise that when Smothered's new album, Dirty Laundry, arrived on my hard drive, it was replete with songs in which Watt expresses her innermost emotions potently and honestly: pervaded by an atmosphere of anomie and unease that fits these times, but with the intimacy of a phone message from a friend. It's Smothered's music that really caught my ear first, though. While the band's basic sound is informed by the grunge rock Watt grew up listening to, her songcraft adds some surprising twists and turns to the formula, and the band's instrumental attack is a lot more intricate and varied than one might expect.

For instance, "Crosslegged Behavior" explodes out of the gate like a garage pounder, but its clever arrangement is full of surprises, including a half-time bridge and shifting guitar textures (a signature of this record). Watt and her second guitarist/co-producer Zach Palmer intertwine and contrast their lines in interesting ways, while the rhythm section of bassist Mal Frenza (who made an impressive appearance at November's Molten Plains Improv Lotto) and drummer Raegan Smythe (the newest member, who joined the band last year) drives and grooves relentlessly. "Slump" starts out as a textbook example of light-to-heavy grunge dynamics, with a breathless vocal from Watt, but then midway through, the flow is interrupted by densely layered vocals that give the piece a totally different vibe.

"My Southern Girl" is pure sex, slithering out of the speakers at a seductive medium tempo (with a quick tempo shift at the bridge just to keep listeners on their toes), and I can imagine a lesbian teen responding to its heat the way youngsters have to the Dance of Romance depicted in song since time immemorial: the mystery revealed. The crown jewel here, for my two cents, is "A Splinter," released as a single a year ago with a clever video (featuring sock puppets!). Watt says it was her first foray into writing more complex constructions, and indeed, the arrangement is downright orchestral, like a music of the spheres, with the blast of guitar feedback at the end as the icing on the cake.

The closing "Squeeze Me" sounds something like coming to terms. While Watt sings "There's something in me / reeling, I feel sure," she also allows, "I'm in love with a patient woman" (she got married last year) and the song concludes, "I've been eating all of my / vegetables and / I am running out of / things to say..." Here's hoping she's kidding us. Taylor Watt is the kind of songwriter who could make growing up sound compelling, and Smothered is the kind of band who could make it rock."

- Ken Shimamoto, The Stash Dauber

sappy sapphic & the denton dweebs.

not your daddy’s grunge rock.

pre-order our sophomore album "Dirty Laundry" now! out 2/14

raegan - drums
taylor - guitar/vocals
zach - guitar
mal - bass

photography: katherine tejada

Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
open.spotify.com
Facebook