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The Rice Thresher
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Elizabeth Jardina British pop singer Sarah Cracknell, the lead singer of the British trio Saint Etienne, recently released her second solo album - the EP Kelly's Locker. Saint Etienne is cool enough to play on KTRU. Saint Etienne is cool enough to have the liner notes to its 1998 release Good Humor written by Generation X icon Douglas Coupland. Saint Etienne is indie dance music. Not being a particularly cool person, I found this out and felt a little threatened. Fortunately, Cracknell's most recent release is a 35-minute pop gem, even aside from how cool it is. Only two of the eight songs are really new, but the six "old" songs have only been released overseas. For anyone who likes to buy the music they listen to instead of just getting it off iMesh or Gnutella, this is the first chance we've had in the States to get them. The songs are mostly good Europop dance mixes, including some nifty vocal layering thrown in for good measure. Cracknell's two new songs, "Judy, Don't You Worry" and "Sea Shells," are the least electronic tracks on the EP. In the first track, "Judy, Don't You Worry," Cracknell sounds like a cross between Scottish indie heroes Belle and Sebastian and the dreamy voice of Julee Cruise, from the cult television series Twin Peaks. "Sea Shells" is a beautiful cover of a 1969 song by the soul group the Charmels, and while Cracknell brings her own girlish voice to the song, her slightly psychedelic version preserves its '60s feel. Between Cracknell's soft, energetic voice and the dance beats, listening to this album makes me feel like I'm at a really great party. - Elizabeth Jardina
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