New : Frankie Rose - 'Interstellar' / Mirroring - 'Foreign Body'

Another indie double-bill, this time with two offshoots from some of the cooler girlbands doing the rounds Stateside right now; Frankie Rose did stints with Crystal Stilts and Vivian/Dum Dum Girls and Mirroring is a side project of drone matriach Grouper plus some other chick I don't know. I'm assuming both of these releases are designed to allow the ladies chance to lay down some stuff that didn't click with their other projects, in any case they're both pretty cool albums. 'Interstellar' is Frankie going pure pop à la Cocteau Twins, free of any trace of garage scuzz - I didn't really see the point of this when I first listened to it but it's grown on me since then and now I can't stop playing it. Her secret is keeping things short - like last year's bitchin' 'Cats Eyes' album, 'Interstellar' clocks in at half an hour with ten catchy potential singles, only with Liz Fraser as a reference instead of Nancy Sinatra. It's direct enough to avoid sinking into a lake of twee and and the ethereal pop hooks are deftly delivered to sidestep any self indulgent wankery. One for the Sunday morning session I think, this is a great one to start your day to. 'Foreign Body' on the other hand is one to put on when the sun's gone down - if you missed out on Grouper's awesomely spooky 'Dragging a dead deer up a hill' in '08 then go bag that one as a priority but Mirroring are worth checking out in their own right. 'Foreign Body' retains the soft focus ghostliness of Grouper's other stuff but the additional vocals lift it more into Cowboy Junkies territory and give it a structure that might appeal to listeners put off by her more wacked-out freeform material. The vocals are a key part but they don't dominate proceedings, and the trippier moments here kinda remind me of the Aphex Twin's twisted lullaby electronica, like the soundtrack to the closing stages of a slightly unnverving dream. Overall this is a comfortable compromise between Grouper's free-floating tripadelica and the more accessible indie folk that dudes like this would listen to without losing the inherent charm of either. So there you have it - two slices of girly indie which will improve your life without either being entirely essential. 'Interstellar' will light up your morning and 'Foreign Body' will soften up the evening, so why not keep your options open and bag 'em both?

Check out : 'Know Me' from 'Interstellar' and 'Mine' from 'Foreign Body'.