U.S. Girls, Meghan Remy’s vessel, is on its eighth tour. Heavy Light is a natural and inspired extension of what the American artist (Torontonian by relocation) has built over a dozen years.
It should be noted that her music has been constantly enriched by multiple references, her indie pop foundations now blended with disco-funk, lounge jazz, orchestral soundtrack music, chamber pop, Californian pop from the ’60s, and vibrant call-and-response between choir and soloist, recalling Leonard Cohen’s proverbial exchanges with his female singers.
The instrumentation illustrates the approach of this songwriter, composer, performer, director, and ambitious orchestra leader: strings, piano, marimba, guitars, bass, keyboards, analog synths, percussion, etc. Is it clear enough that U.S. Girls’ palette is vast? Few auteur pop artists can boast of having reached such a level of subtlety without the songwriting components getting bogged down in excessively complex material.
Voice, melody and lyrics remain the foundation of the album Heavy Light… and the title says it all. Obviously, Remy creates a rich sound environment to accommodate her solid, inspired and personal lyrics, not to mention a theatricality that includes fictional testimonials, packaged for a reality TV show of a different kind. Brilliant indie pop!
