Ram Reverb: “Out of the Garden” by Tancred

Joshua Buck
Contributing Writer

We have entered a golden era of female guitarists. Last year saw new releases from Colleen Green, Courtney Barnett and Waxahatchee — just to name a few — all of whom are reviving and evolving that iconic mid 90s sound of Juliana Hatfield and PJ Harvey.

With the release of “Out of the Garden,” the stellar third album from her solo project Tancred, Jess Abbott ensures that the movement will stay strong in 2016. Combining top-shelf shredding with frank lyricism, Abbott works her way into your head with songs that sound great at lunch, but come back to haunt you at midnight.

“Poise” illustrated this with its shout-along middle finger of a chorus: “I would kill for some goddamn noise/ I would kill, but the girl’s got poise.” It’s cathartic and invigorating… until you dig into the song’s verses of dark obsession.

The conflicting nature of passion sits at the heart of the whole project, with lovers forcing Abbott to grapple with everything around her: “Do I want to save the world or just cut out its insides?” she ponders in the album-opener “Bed Case.”

Abbott’s complexity shows up again in the loathing and loving of romantic rivals (“Pretty Girls” and “Joey”). The entire album accurately reflects the total messiness of 20-something life, a period that can sometimes only be navigated through strained self-affirmation.

As Abbot sums it up, “I’m insanely healthy in my head. It’s crazy how stable I am.”

Aren’t we all?

Sounds like: A joyous midweek freakout.
Perfect for: Longboarding when you should be studying for finals.

Music Desk, Josh Buck

I’m an almost annoyingly outspoken feminist who loves writing about gender and race in mainstream art. I once had to be almost physically removed from Disneyland because my friends said it’s not cool to be the very last person in the park. I can’t wait to graduate in the spring so I can point my car West with no money and no plan, and spend months seeing the country, writing and meeting people.