Engine Judy

Initially assembled late in 2010, Engine Judy came together as a full-fledged band some three months ago. The band already has a slew of songs, of which, on this evening, we are treated to six. The full band is Tim Sprague on guitar, vocals and trumpet; Judith Ann Sprague on vocals; Phillipe Doucet on guitar, Maureen Relling-Booth on bass and vocals, and David Zimmerman on drums. The concert takes place on a dead-end street in a big backyard with a maypole newly wrapped in multicolored ribbons rising out of the tidy lawn from nearly dead center. The warm-up number, “Keep Away,” is a standard blues shuffle. (I mention to Michael Bloom that it would do nicely for a Viagra ad. Then I admit that this was a very cheap shot indeed.) The second number, “Cadillac,” reveals a semi-psychedelic undertow in the interaction between rhythm guitar and bass, with (infernal cliche) hot guitar licks interspersed along the top. It concludes with an incantatory, mildly doomy Doors-like vibe. (Michael Bloom observes that it would be even more amusing if it were sung in Swedish and called “Volvo.”) “The Gathering” is a jazz-inflected, bass-heavy lament with muted trumpet solos. Next is “Long Ride,” an incantatory rock number with harmony vocals and tribal percussion. The sound in the outdoor venue is murky and diffused as the sun is not long from setting and the super moon is about to rise in the serially gathering fog—conditions which add an appropriate, almost suffocating sense of something ominous to come. The highlight of the evening is “I’m in Love With You,” which I peg as psychedelic garage punk from the opening bars. True to form, the song features circular bass riffs with fuzz guitar overlay, but with highly enunciated vocals rather than the incoherent babble one might expect from frantic Tejano-style psychedelia. Tim calls their final number a “fake jazz tune,” but the actual title is “Rocks They Crumble.” As the song begins, a red-haired woman with fingernails painted green begins to smile and nod. The tune features a trumpet riff on top of a springy guitar rhythm and torchy vocals. Overall, what Engine Judy lacks in heedless stripling energy they more than make up for with subtlety and feel.
- The NOISE Music New England