A classy take on ‘80s synth-pop and the opener to Attia Taylor’s Short Stories & Small Glories EP, “She’s a Mad Scientist” feels high-tech and retro, pairing precise vocals with fuzzy repeats via a Bill Nye flavored sample of the word “scientist”. Like quirky one-hit wonder – Thomas Dolby’s claim to fame (a.k.a. “She Blinded Me with Science”), Taylor’s clever spin on the focal point of its narrative breathes probable life to the illustrious “she” behind Dolby’s track. The thumping start of “Did I Look Like Myself” brings to mind acts like The Blow with its rhythmic pulse and lyrical brevity. Sincere and emotive, Taylor’s outlook springs from a point of resilience rather than that of a blind optimist. The words “I can’t predict everything you’re feeling” are followed by an “oh you’re feeling,” proving that Taylor’s concerns are relational, heartfelt. Tricked out with beats befitting M.I.A. (pre-Maya madness), “Make Me a Mixtape” proves to be more inventive than its cutesy title implies. With a blitz of clipped quick drumbeats, the song is multilayered, an audible collage in its own rite. The two-note keyboard intro of “Hezekiah and the Car” stretches like a thread through the song, connecting staccato clicks and resonant beeps, sandwiching catchy hooks and alto ah-ahs in-between. Something in the way Taylor delivers each line draws the listener in, carving her place in the tradition of St. Vincent or The Bird and the Bee. The confessional tell-all style of “Dresses on Tricycles” hums of childhood memories painted in hues of nostalgia and a side of disillusionment. Taylor’s breathy voice croons, “They tell me I’m not pretty enough, pretty enough, I’m not pretty enough”, while swirling instrumentation serves as the backdrop to this intimate candid flashback. Possibly the most emotionally raw track of the EP, the close proximity between Taylor and her audience through “Dresses on Tricycles” duration is skin to skin. Here, it is clear that her willingness to share her past and present with strangers through her songs makes her invincible and brave. With the same brilliant creative intuition of Elizabeth Ziman or the overplayed Ingrid Michaelson, Attia Taylor’s Short Stories & Small Glories is pretty enough and more. You can download the album for FREE here.
Attia Taylor will be sharing a Sugar Town bill this Saturday Nov. 6 at Tritone with Bells Bells Bells and Hilly Eye (featuring Amy Klein from Titus Andronicus) as well as Sara Marcus, who will be reading excerpts from and discussing her book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot GRRRL Revolution (check out our recent interview for Where Is My Mind? with Marcus here).
She’s a Mad Scientist by Attia Taylor