Violins In Amsterdam
by Sean Carolan

Band: Seedling
Album: "Elevator Tourist"
Label: Konkurrent (Benelux), Shellshock (U.K.)

There's always a temptation to judge a band by the covers they lob at their adoring crowds, which means you've missed the point completely: something got that crowd there in the first place.

In this case, the crowd's got it right. Seedling, an Amsterdam quartet, whose chromosomes measure seven "X"'s and a "Y", have been touring Europe heavily and building their audience steadily. I sincerely hope they're poised for an American foray.

What they have, as brashly displayed on "Elevator Tourist", isn't more of the same. They wear their influences only so far, and the moment you think "hmm, Garbage" or "hey, Breeders" or "aha, Throwing Muses", they weave their voices together in a way that's utterly unlike all of the above, with a call-and-response that's more conversational than harmonic. They pose lyrical puzzles as well: Within the confident Cramps-ian lounge growl found in "Cool Baby, My Hips Go Woo" (sample lyric: "It's not that I mean to scare you / I just look good with machine guns") there's a breaking point reached as the narrator sung by Marg Van Eenbergen wonders why people keep commenting she looks a lot like someone else's lover...

Then there's the music itself: solid rhythm from Mariken Smit and bass from Bas Jacobs support Van Eenbergen's guitars and the violin that's more than just a fiddle, wielded by Susanne Linssen. A violin in the right hands can be downright disturbing, and Linssen's hands tip that needle away from 101 Strings and into Bernard Herrmann territory. This is not to say they can't nail an unvarnished vocal aside an acoustic guitar - they can, and do.

Still not getting the picture? Think of the Violent Femmes' "Add It Up", Japan's "Adolescent Sex" and Salt 'N' Pepa's "Push It" crossed with the Smiths' "William It Was Really Nothing" atop all of the above, and you'll be getting close to the mark (but, as I said earlier, you'd be missing the point.)

So. There they are. American labels: are you game?

©2001 Sean Carolan