When the MP3 of Lusting Kay’s “You Say” was emailed to me, I listened to the first few seconds of the fuzzy guitar riff and stuttering drums that open the song and hit pause, searching my huge, pulsating brain for songs it reminded me of from days of yore, or maybe olden times.  I landed on Smackmelon’s eponymous 1994 EP on Cherrydisc Records.  I love that record.  I'm not sure what I heard on this MP3 that reminded me of it, and as I listened to the rest of “You Say” I quickly forgot about Smackmelon and instead remembered the time my mother made quiche when company was coming over and forgot to put in the eggs.

I'm not making that up.  She put empty pie crusts in the oven to bake, and only when she opened the oven door to check on them did she realize that she'd left the filling in a bowl on the counter.  Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with empty pie crusts, but when people are expecting quiche, empty shells are a disappointment. 

“You Say” is clearly a demo, four minutes and ten seconds of distorted guitar, simple melody, some really earnest drumming, and a few backwards cymbal effects for ear candy.  That said, I can’t help but think of it as a good idea for a song instead of an actual song.  The cool ideas are derailed by a lack of solid song structure; I know that following a formula when writing songs sounds like something to be avoided, but if you’re going to reinvent the wheel, you should have a pretty good idea of how wheels are made to begin with.  Several times during the song I get the feeling that I’m listening to a sort of placeholder, a part of the song where there’s just nothing happening.  Maybe the band plans to go back and fill in these barren spots later.  If they do, I’d love to hear the final product. 

The drumming is frenetic to the point of distraction, and I would suggest to the drummer that there can be passion in restraint, and that music isn’t only the notes but the spaces between as well. 

If this song was shorter by at least a minute and had a real bridge, I’d like it a lot more.  If the bass didn’t mirror the guitar through the entire song I’d like it even more than that, and if the melody was a little more adventurous, I’d ask this song if it maybe wanted to do something later, like see a movie or like, I don’t know, make-out and stuff. 

-- Sagacious C

for more information visit www.myspace.com/lustingkay

Lusting Kay - You Say (mp3)

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