Album Review: Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers – A fish hook, an open eye

“If you look up narcissist in a dictionary, you better find me”

The opening line of ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar’ is a worryingly revealing reason for why I enjoyed this album so much.

Described by the New York Times as “an indie-rock band from Brooklyn” but I prefer explosive punk/blues/jazz/folk outfit, who, at their best, sound like an enraged Jolie Holland accompanied by the Pogues.

Shilpa plays harmonium and whether her shrieking, growling vocals are natural or imposed by the blaring noise of her instrument is irrelevant as the two combine brilliantly.

Many of the songs on the album apparently began as Xanax and alcohol fueled poetry and this is apparent in their incongruity and ferocity.  However Shilpa Ray is far from “another Amy Winehouse”, for one she has a more biting sense of humour, made clear on “I’m not frigid… Yet”; a disparaging commentary on the irrational rituals involved in going on the pull, something I can certainly identify with.

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