Death Letter

Blues/rock and roll duo The Movers and The Shakers have a coming-of-age tale like a great White Stripes lyric. Kitti Moon met Paul Alexander at High School; he introduced her to The Beatles and she introduced him to the Rolling Stones. They bonded over a love of Blues, were then separated for many years post-High School and then met again randomly at a book store. They were sitting on a park bench one day in 2007 when they realised they’d like to start a band together. And like one of their mutual favourite bands The White Stripes – to who they obviously owe a lot for their gritty, minimalist lo-fi blues-rock sound – when they tried to employ a bassist no one felt right. “They developed such chemistry that it wasn’t necessary to bring anyone else into the equation,” the story says. Last year they recorded their first album, The Nitty Gritty (Ravenwood Records) which includes the romper-stomping blues riffs ‘Housewife Blues’, ‘Nowhere Bound’ and ‘Real Mean Talker’. Their simplified sound is strong, their voices are kind of off but unite together in a charming playschool mess of endless adolescence. They take the bluesyness of TWS and build on top of it with a more modern country/rhythm ‘n blues style. Don’t write them off as a White Stripes cover band, their scope is plentiful. Their garage rock odes like ‘Somebody Just Got Hurt’ are jilting in their cunning suburban monotone and it’s clear ‘Let’s Be Friends’ is their raucous, rock and roll lead single that’s almost autobiographical, while ‘A Thousand Times Before’ is the vexed lover’s ballad.

The Movers and The Shakers- Myspace

 

Posted by Sarah Gooding under U.S.A