The Organ is a female five-piece based out of Vancouver. They formed in 2001 based on a mutual love for all things sad and danceable, you know, the eighties new wave. They signed to Chad Kroege’s (yes, THAT Chad Kroeger) 604 label, who discovered them. But unlike the benefacto’s outfit Nickelback, don’t expect morose, woe-is-me tales imbued with a pop sensibility. Well, that is not entirely true. How about this, The Organ doesn’t suck.
The Organ is that band you caught on VH1 Classic’s “We are the 80’s” at 2:00 A.M. You can remember the video, too. Simple live performance in front of a hot crowd, single camera shot from the stage, lead singer Katie Sketch hopping up and down. Like fellow compatriots The Stills and Hot Hot Heat, they capture the mood and aesthetic of the often-mined era perfectly, but add an original dynamic that goes beyond mere nostalgia.
Sketc’s voice is reminiscent of Kristen Hirsch, but the Throwing Muses front woman didn’t display as much vulnerability. This is where the Morrissey comes in. In fact, the Organ’s best songs are when Sketch simultaneously summons Hirsc’s directness with Morrissey’s flair. “Love, Love, Love” finds her carrying on at her melodramatic best, delivering each line (“That’s why I’m coming home again/that’s why I’m on my own again/that’s why I’m throwing things around my home again”) with an increasing of combination of sadness and anger as the song reaches its emotional apex. Definitely one of the highlights on an album that makes you rewind back repeatedly.
The Moz and his former bandmates in the Smiths have left their musical fingerprints all over Grab That Gun, from Deb Cohen’s Marr-esque interweaving guitar playing to the simple but stable rhythm section (Ashley Webber and Shelby Stocks in place of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, respectively). Jenny Smyt’s organ adds another element of warmth to the proceedings and doesn’t overpower any of the songs, despite playing in a band called The Organ. As a unit, there is a great amount of interplay that at once sounds effortless yet highly constructed.
The only setback to Grab That Gun is its sameness. All the songs have a similar sound, structure, tempo, etc. Now it just so happens that the formula they have created is incredibly addictive, but the lack of diversity hurts an otherwise solid debut. The great moments tend to blur together. Was that fun little guitar line after the chorus in “Memorize the City?” Or was it in “I’m not Surprised?” Ironically, the songs taken from their Sinking Hearts EP and rerecorded, such as “There is nothing I can do” and “No one has looked so dead,” sound a little overworked, as the extra guitars and echo take away from the straightforward nature of the songs, the bands strongest suit.
