**1/2 Ramona Silver YOU & ME & HELL (Fingerprint)
"It don't
mean a thing without an attitude," sings an off-kilter cluster of sweet and
sour Ramona Silver voices on the propulsive chorus of "Adapter," the first
track on her promising, rough-hewn debut. Not exactly a new concept in the pop
world, but one that still provides a healthy dose of inspiration. Taking her
cues from Liz Phair, who made it fashionable for women with indie attitude to
undress their emotions without donning a diva's gown or a hippie-dippy acoustic
guitar, Silver hits the messy trenches of romance with a quirky sense of
melody, a tart, prickly voice, a comfortably loose electric band, and plenty of
the a-word. "You've been up inside of me," she reminds a difficult lover on the
disc's title track, with an alluring combination of strength and vulnerability.
She also makes the most out of very little in the way of production values,
layering her vocals and employing a clever array of buzz-and-churn guitars. And
if "Tour Trauma" veers a little too close to Phairdom with its coy
double-tracked voices and out-of-phase guitars, at least Silver's got enough
genuine attitude to pull off the heist.
-- Matt Ashare
(Ramona Silver performs through New Year's Eve after the Blue
Man Group's Tubes in the bar at the Charles Playhouse.)
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