I saw U.S. Girls once during an experimental noise show in Edmonton around 2010. She came out with a bunch of pedals on a table and a microphone and laid down some of the harshest “pop” music I have ever heard. I have a stark memory of her wrapping the microphone cord around her neck as she convulsed on the floor. It might have been the first time I was really concerned abotu a performer hurting themsleves on stage, althoguh this was a basement floor. I think that was around the time of her first album Bits + Pieces, from 2009, and it reminds me of experiencing someone like Lingua Ignota.
But my, how time can change an artist and their sound. Meg Remy, the core member of U.S. Girls, is now a mother approaching her 30s, and as the years have passed, she has gone for a tamer sound, replicating the funk of the ’80s on her 2023 album, Bless This Mess, and now a country-tinged soul rock on this latest one, Scratch It. Meg is a chameleon, sometimes sounding like Dolly Parton or Blondie on tracks like “Like James Said,” “Walking Song,” or “Dear Patti,” the latter about missing Patti Smith at a festival where she and Meg were the only women acts.
For Scratch It, Meg assembled a band of legends: Nashville star Dillon Watson on guitar, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn) on bass, Domo Donoho on drums, and both Jo Schornikow and Tina Norwood on keys, as well as harmonica legend Charlie McCoy (Elvis, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison). One song that really hits is more of a eulogy. “Bookends,” about the passing of Riley Gale (the lead vocalist of the Dallas thrash metal band, Power Trip), is an 11-minute ode and the prancing organ, mixed with Remy’s light vocals, and a harmonica solo here and there is straight beauty. The three minute outro turns into some funky rock n’ roll before Remy explodes into a Patti Smith vocal reverie.
Scratch It is a gorgeous ride that recalls all of the greats, while remaining authentic. It’s ready if you’re willing.
