Album Review

The Coathangers – Larceny & Old Lace

• 25th Jun 2011

If you are new to The Coathangers then they are quartet from Atlanta who go by the names of Crook Kid Coathanger (Julia Kugel), Minnie Coathanger(Meredith Franco), Rusty Coathanger (Stephanie Luke) and BeBe Coathanger (Candice Jones).

Having first formed in 2006 ‘Larceny & Old Lace’ is the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2009 album ‘Scramble’ and sees The Coathangers taking girl-power to a whole new level.

Opening track ‘Hurricane’ is a ferocious and energetic dent in the punk genre with a infectious guitar riff, an impressive intricate drum beat and unique vocals from frontwoman Julia Kugel that, although leave you wondering what she actually said, instantly transform this band into one that cannot be ignored.

From the dark ‘Hurricane’ compared to the sultry and harmonic ‘Go Away’, to the undertones of rag-time blues of 1930’s deep-South America juxtaposed against raw and full-of-attitude shouting in ‘Well Alright’, makes ‘Larceny & Old Lace’ an album of odd pairings. The mix of gritty versus humorous manages to work perfectly when on paper it really shouldn’t.

On occasion the sound is child-like with ‘My Baby’ resembling a school playground chant rather than following the wild tone of the rest of the album. However The Coathangers embrace this and use it to their advantage making ‘Larceny & Old Lace’ versatile yet dysfunctional; resulting in an album that puts girl based punk/rock back on the map.