From hyper-active, electro space-pop to dreamy pop rock,
this release is completely absorbing. It's so well crafted, a non-stop tour of
great beats and grooves, with plenty of uptempo stuff to keep you from dosing
at the wheel during the more dreamy stuff. At times it reminds me of the Stone
Roses or Luna, but other songs have frantic beats more along the lines of drum
and bass or techno. It's an electronic rock masterpiece with a mix of male and
female vocals, sung accordingly with the tempo of the music. This album will
make you speed when driving. (CM)
THE MORNING NEWS
15 September 2003
Album of the
Week: The Emerald Down, Aquarium EP; A Study in Her, Auto-Amputation
Not in Oxford (OX4, for some of you), not in Reading, not
anywhere in the UK, in fact, but in Toledo, Ohio, is the where the new
shoegazing (Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, et al) movement lives,
courtesy of T-Town record label Honest in Secret, well-proven Ohio s’gazers
The Emerald Down, and A Study in Her (whose members are situated in
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Maryland, Bloomington, Boston, DC, and New Haven –
kind of like us, in that way).
…
A Study in Her – a collective or band or something (nobody told us) – has
released something quite brilliant in Auto-Amputation, an album that
spans about 4,000 songwriting genres, all of which we will place, very
closed-mindedly into the category of ‘shoegazing.’ After all, there’s a heavy,
heady influence of MBV all over it. And Slowdive…even Chapterhouse! Of course,
to be totally honest here, Chapterhouse never quite got this good: Sorry. All
of these statements are, unfortunately, too limiting, since A Study in Her
eases quite often into more experimental electro (read: Prima Donnas, Suicide)
as well. And with a healthy sense of humor too. A Study in Her: amorphous, but
very engaging. And it sounds like they probably don’t really care what we think
about it, either.
PLUG IN MUSIC
(March 2004)
Each track on A Study In Her’s “Auto-Amputation” is like a
grab bag. From the vocals (which are performed by both men and women) to the
mood (upbeat or gentle) to the style (indie rock or electronic rock), you do
not know what to expect on the next song.
With a light and poppy indie rock sound, “Bodies and Bodies” opens the album
and is a song by A Study In Her mastermind Constantine Valenzuela Nakassis.
Following the gentle first track, “Giant Robot” jerks you awake with its
aggressive style of electronic twinkling and rapid programmed drumbeats. The
chance in pace was momentary, at least, as “It’s All Alright” and “The Tension
of Non-touching” returning to the gentle guitar rock sound. Relying again on
fast drumbeats which slow for vocals, “‘Hybrid Energy’” has a fuzzy and spacey
sound that is mixes the indie rock with electronic. Engaging and catchy
“Stuttering and Simply Stopping” is a mid tempo guitar rock driven song with
melodic vocals. Using programmed drumbeats heavily, “XL” is the album’s most
electronic-oriented song with vocal mixing. The song is catchy and infectious
with its danceable rhythm and memorable lyrics like “We know what the people
are talking about, singing about, shouting about.” “He Will Write the Histories
of Estrangement” has an upbeat poppy sound while the stripped down “Instruction
From Her Hero, a Young Woman on Guitar” focuses on wonderfully melodic female
vocals. More straightforward electronic and relying heavily on scratching and
mixing “An Outline of an Order (44+60 Redux)” offers an interesting and unique
interlude while “Unhindered and Unhinged” has a surprisingly feel good sound
about it with an upbeat and poppy melody and fuzzy guitars. “Auto-Amputation” closes, somewhat surprisingly, with an eerie but serious sounding instrumental.
A Study In Her’s album has a variety of sounds and songs, from gentle and poppy
indie rock to quick paced dance. The variety is sometimes too much and the
tracks make little sense in the way they are organized; perhaps two separate
EPs would have been better. With that said, the range of sounds and emotions
conveyed on the album has a flexible appeal – “Auto-Amputation” is not,
necessarily, an album you have to be in the mood for; the mood of the songs
finds you.
Grade: B
-Corinne