Remember that girl you knew back in high school who was allegedly a really good guitar player – but no one really knew for sure because she never really played around school and didn't play in a band? Rumors circulated that she was some kind of prodigy, but no one knew for sure because she was really soft spoken and introverted and that one time you asked her to jam with you, she just blushed really brightly before declining the invitation. Listening to Sock It To Me feels like the moment when you finally getting to hear some rough demos of that girl singing and playing; the beats are synthetic and sort of cheap sounding (they had to be – she couldn't bear to ask a drummer to play with her), but the songs still show that that girl had a true songwriting talent which dwarfs the limitations she had to work around to flesh these songs out.
From the moment “Only One” opens Sock It To Me, listeners are handed everything they need to know about Colleen Green and her music. Yes, the 8-bit drums sound cheap, but the guitars immediately show how the promise of the player (it's working class indie rock all the way) and Green's own breathless vocal is the sort of sound which powers dreams. Those with even one romantic bone in their body will be drawn to Green's modest sound and intent and want to know more about both her and the music on her mind as soon as possible.
Those already hooked won't be left wanting by Sock It To Me. After “Only One” sets the precedents for the record, Green keeps playing to the “vocals and guitar first, everything else is details” paradigm and nails some embryonic hits in songs like “Yr. So Cool,” “Every Boy Wants A Normal Girl,” “Time In The World” and “Heavy Shit” which capture high school reality (wanting boys who don't even know the singer's alive, tenuous social situations, feeling left on the outside looking in on the good time everyone else is having) and will immediately have listeners remembering in their own lives and bad; all in a warm and meaningful way. That style is just so easy to fall in love with that listeners will find themselves moving easily through this record's run-time.
As “Number One” leads listeners out in the exact same way they were brought into Sock It To Me (pre-programmed drums, great guitar licks, breathless and whispered vocals which sound like they might have been recorded late at night), listeners won't be able to stop themselves from wishing for great things to come to Colleen Green. They'll find themselves hoping that the sounds on Sock It To Me catch on and makes it possible for Green to get a backing band who will help her flesh out her ideas a bit more fully for her next release. Grated, the campy, cute sounds found on this album are nice, but they're small and a large room needs large sounds to fill it. Sock It To Me proves that Colleen Green has the talent to break out, all she needs now is the right chance and circumstance to do it. Here's hoping….
Artist:
www.colleengreen.bandcamp.com/
www.hardlyart.com/colleengreen.html
www.facebook.com/colleenegreen
www.twitter.com/colleengreen420
Download:
Colleen Green – Sock It To Me – “Heavy Shit” – [mp3]
Colleen Green – Sock It To Me – “Time In The World” – [mp3]
Album:
Sock It To Me will be released on March 19, 2013 via Hardly Art Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
