Rasputina
Sister Kinderhook (Filthy Bonnet)
Perhaps no artist alive embodies the creaky, creepy, ornately detailed steampunk aesthetic more than Rasputina’s Melora Creager. Instantly recognizable on stage in her bloomers, petticoats, and vintage corsetry, Creager has been creating compelling cello-fueled art rock since the early ’90s, with help from a rotating cast of supporting cellists and drummers. Her current lineup, appearing on Rasputina’s seventh full-length album, Sister Kinderhook, is among the best she’s ever recruited. Supported by cello wunderkind Daniel de Jesus and percussion powerhouse Catie D’Amica, Creager catapults listeners through 14 tracks redolent with eerie 19th-century atmosphere, haunting harmonies, and chilling narrative lyrical loops that are as confounding as they are fascinating. The deliriously demented “Holocaust of Giants” and breathtakingly delicate “My Night Sky” stand out as superlative selections on Kinderhook, but every song is a museum-quality treasure that sounds as if it escaped from some long-buried time capsule just to stow away in your iPod. [Emily Rems]
Check out this great interview with Melora in the Wall Street Journal
