Effi Briest

Rhizomes (Sacred Bones)

By Erin Lyndal Martin
Published: June 12th, 2010 | 7:00am

Effi Briest, an all-girl NYC band, rocks out with their throats out, singing and screaming their way through their debut LP, Rhizomes. Sometimes it works. The band still seems to be searching for their own sound, and there are plenty of rough roads and dead ends along the way. Add to that a deliberately unpolished record and you get a confusingly uneven album that ultimately collapses on itself despite some of its nice moments.

There are glimmers of innovation and success laced throughout the songs that result in a sense of promise for the album. The speak-singing over grungy guitars and rough percussion on the title track and "Mirror Rim" works well, displaying a fine counterpoint to the quick percussive beats of the songs. The guitar work is accomplished and sharp throughout the Rhizomes, though that skill would be showcased better with more polished production. There is also a lovely cameo of an ominous-sounding organ on "Nights" that makes for a good breather from the wall-of-rough-sound approach the band takes on the album.

All those positive moments aside, Rhizomes gets old quickly, relying too much on caterwauling and an indistinct roughness that permeate even the most promising songs—"Cousins," for example, gets particularly difficult midway through the track. In the end, the band's biggest flaw is their failure to distinguish themselves from a sea of punk girl-groups that all seem to borrow from the same riot grrl frontierswomen.

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Effi Briest MySpace page

Sacred Bones Records