Static People

Rare Creatures (2014)

emma

Rare Creatures is the kind of album that draws you in with the first song and keeps you hooked for the duration of the six-song album. Static People’s sound is a bouncy mixture of punk, pop and indie – like a cross between Bikini Kill, Siouxsie and the Banshees and bubblegum. This one, short album has absolutely everything someone could need: gritty vocals, danceable drums, buzzsaw guitars and just enough of that electronic sound to blend it all together.

“Monkey Scratches” is certainly the highlight of the album – one listen and I was hooked, anyway. It’s got an upbeat tempo, the kind of song you can’t really help but dance to, and it’s catchy as hell. Dmitra Smith’s vocals are a defining feature of the song, all at once pleasant and angst ridden. “Tonight” slows things down slightly; it’s still bursting with that electronic and guitar-filled sound, though. The chorus speeds things up slightly, and Smith’s vocals are as strong as ever.

“Still” is slower, too, and as far as Dmitra Smith is concerned, it’s the standout song for her vocals. The slower, prominent drum beats and guitar riffs also make it a memorable song. The guitars pick up a little more in “Just Go,” and the song eventually fades away into electric noise. “Stars Fall” keeps up with the slower pace of the album, the volume building into a crescendo by the end of the song. “Rare Creatures” finishes off the album, maintaining the slower pace of the majority of the album, and once again highlighting Smith’s powerful voice. By the halfway point, though, the song picks up in tempo, building up into the end, where the song ends with a few definitive strums.

It’s a short album with a relatively slower pace (with the exception, of course, of the lead off “Monkey Scratches”), but it’s certainly a balanced album. It’s full of gritty, angst-ridden and emotionally charged vocals; prominent, danceable beats; and, of course, an even mix of guitars and that more electronic sound. It’s an album drawing on that '90s sound, on Riot Grrl and pop, and it mixes them together in a way that results in catchy songs you can sing and dance to and listen to on repeat.