Danielle Howle is that most unique and elusive of musical performers, one who refuses to be bound by convention or genre, choosing instead to exorcise her musical demons in whatever form they elect to emerge. She has released solo acoustic albums, has a spoken word album in the works for another indie label, was the lead singer for another Daemon Records act, Lay Quiet Awhile, and currently fronts this powerful, versatile combo.
On Do A Two Sable, the Tantrums’ second album (following 1996′s About To Burst on Simple Machines), they hopscotch down a sidewalk full of genres, from the mesmerizing, paranoid rock of “She Has A Past” and “Where Were You” to the bouncy pop weirdness of “Feel So Bad” and the Eleventh Dream Day-style feedback skronk of “Cartoon In The Courtroom”. Country music makes a maniacally joyful appearance on the infectious rave-up “You Came A Knockin’” and the kiss-off waltz “If You Wanna Leave”. Howle’s folkie side is evident in quieter introspective numbers such as “Host For The Notes” and the awash-with-guitar shadings of “Dusty”.
Howle’s stylistic chameleon act is held together by her Southern gothic lyrical skill and deceptively powerful voice, with which she can nail a feeling or a moment in a single line or two, then extend the emotion throughout a song with a typically killer riff. “Sitting On A Big Front Porch” is a fine example, a catchy tune with words that explore boredom and inspiration in a rural environment: “And this feeling of survival/Is buried in my brain/I need a good Christian revival/To get my motor started again /Oh well and I need some secret action/To get me off my porch.”
In “Host For The Notes”, Howle even takes that most overdone formula, music about writing music, and makes her own statement: “Am I just the sucker that makes you laugh/Or are we just trying to make each other feel bad/Don’t you know that opposites attack/You egomaniac.”
With Do A Two Sable, Howle & the Tantrums serve up a reminder of musical promise without pretension, a lack of boundaries or attitude that’s invigorating and enjoyable.
