Refrigerator have been making indie rock records since the early '90s, meaning that they've had plenty of time to explore different approaches and techniques while never venturing too far from the lo-fi, D.I.Y. approach they began with and what led singer/guitarist Dennis Callaci to start Shrimper Records. On
Bottles of Make Up, the band strip down their sound to the bare essentials -- voice, acoustic guitar, piano, the occasional bass or snare hit -- with none of the edgy, messy electric riffs or fuller poppy sound that was sprinkled through their earlier work. The whole album, in fact, has a very sparse feel, as if it was recorded on an eight-track in just a few takes. Callaci, the main songwriter (though his brother Allen also contributes a couple cuts), is a decent lyricist, though he shies away from rhyming lines, which can give a kind of haphazard feel to the record, like he had just come up with the words moments before and hadn't quite figured out yet how to fit them into music. Sometimes this can come off successfully enough, like in "From the End of the World to Your Town" (despite the
Jewel "Foolish Games" resemblance), but other times it seems a little too elementary, a little too uninspired (in the title cut, for example). On the plus side, however,
Bottles of Make Up allows the band to pay tribute to some of their influences that might have been harder to pick up on their other albums.
Tom Waits, whose "Shiver Me Timbers" is heard distinctly on "Walking Through Walls," is the strongest here, but to a lesser extent there are also hints of
Neil Young,
Rod Stewart (whether or not they'd like to admit that is another story), and
O.A.R..
Bottles of Make Up isn't
Refrigerator at their best, but it is a look at a different side of the band, which makes it an interesting, even if slightly off, release. ~ Marisa Brown