Tara and Cynthia eat, sleep and breathe music. Twelve hours a day, 7 days a week, out of bed and straight to the guitars. These women tap on anything in reach. They whistle and hum when walking, and they sing as much as they breathe. Whether it's divine inspiration or moody introspection that motivates these women to write so many songs, there is nothing tossed off or lightweight about the songwriting on their first full-length CD EGG FUSION. From the simple truths and lazy Neil Young-isms of "Kangaroo" to the driving and ominous "Hottie Titmouse" Retsin paint a broad range of pictures in a variety of musical styles. They march, they rock, they weave, they spoon, but mostly they tell stories in voices you recognize and appreciate. When Tara and Cynthia sing "Don't monitor me, because you won't like what you see, don't give me your cigarettes, because I'll smoke too many," in the song "Foul" they speak to the everyday weary temper we all feel, but when they follow with the melancholic optimism of the next lyric "We move through this world like angels without wings we couldn't use them yet, my skin is oiled with sweat, but I'm going out" you can't help being caught in the resigned hopefulness of Retsin. And if you don't fall in love with the delicate and tender half-speed "Guilford" you should check yourself for a pulse. In the past year Tara Jane has written for four albums - two Retsin and two Sonora Pine (Touch 'n Go) and a made a guest appearance on bass on the most recent Come record (Matador). Cynthia has written for two Retsin and two Ruby Falls records. That's SIX albums between them in 1995 and 1996! Now a genuine band based in Louisville, KY Retsin have already toured the east coast, south and midwest. Retsin did a long US tour in April 96 to support Egg Fusion that ended in Boston, where Tara jumped out of their van and onto a plane for a month-long European tour with Come. |
