Mollycoddle
Lucky

Total Time: 56:03
Cost: $9.98 + s/h*

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STYLE: ROCK

HOME TOWN:
            New Haven, CT

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   The start of the first year (‘01) saw a flu bug that ravaged just about everyone I know of. Then the debacle that was the Halftime Spectacular at Super Bowl XXXV ravaged what was once known as Rock. As January came to a close I looked to the Cosmo’s and asked the Gods for a sign that music was still vital, that artistic expression could dig deep into the soul, that the ancient ritual of sound representing pure emotion could still be translated into the heartfelt sincerity of each individual that chooses to relate to it.

   I got Lucky.

   Enter two Goddesses. Ralna Ramse (vocals, acoustic/electric guitars) and Heather Orser (vocals, bass) are the Heart and Soul of New Haven, Connecticut’s Mollycoddle. With Steve Raccagni on drums they Rock like Rock should. LUCKY is a powerful disc, It ROCKS! Ralna is a Guitar God(dess) that ranks among the elite of Rock, her dense layering of monster guitar riffs along with major fuzz box work and controlled distortion will make you sit up and take notice time and time again. Heather delivers Bass lines that are as brutal as Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones with the finesse of The Who’s John Entwistle, giving the rhythm a strong presence while Steve’s crisp drums maintain a steady control. Couple this brilliant omnipresent music with lyrical content that’ll rip your heart out, both physically and emotionally, and what you have is a masterpiece of artistic expression that belongs deep into a musicians career, not as a debut – not to mention deserving of a spot in every Rock fan’s collection.

   Building a CD of solid Rock tunes, Mollycoddle covers the usual gamut of musical subjects, then wraps them around the essential heart of the matter: soured and failed relationships.

   Heather and Ralna have created an aggressive attack of music muscle that is more commonly associated with male rock territory, and coupled it with a passive perspective towards love that when viewed through just the strength of the lyrics could easily be lent to any number of the Lillith girls. But, instead of taking the riot grrrl or chick rock approach, Mollycoddle comes at us from the male dominant side of the instruments as they lay out their hearts and music in a fascinating manner. The divas should take note:

   Mollycoddle uses their femininity to turn the tables on the men who have taken advantage of them. By coddling up to them through the magnetism of power chords which accentuate the beautifully shared vocals (Like Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr of The Cars, Ralna and Heather’s voices are so similar it’s hard to distinguish who is singing) and harmonies that glide along this male soundtrack, Mollycoddle can take aggressive control over any relationship to a point where she will ultimately get rid of the source of her pain (boyfriend), but is still passionate enough to need someone who understands.

   The title track begins the CD by telling us: “Luck changes things/so much is/Luck changes things/so much is/Once your lucky once/Your luck’s bound to run out” (substitute love for luck). Using sparse reverberating power chords and a Phil Spector Wall of Sound style production we’re only given a glimpse of the musical onslaught to come. “fairy tales” follows; an upbeat rocker that lays Ralna’s dense distorted guitar next to Heather’s Phat (and I do mean Phat) bass and we are Rockin’ in the spirit of Neil Young and Crazy Horse playing rock for all it’s worth. The chorus: “fairy tales ain’t real” gives us the mind set to where all this is coming from (Think about it; if Prince Charming wasn’t real, then what hope is there for love?).

   By the time track #3, “sleep alone” begins we’re ripe for the picking. Opening with the throb of the bass and a lazy snare walking together in a groove riff that sparks a lead guitar from somewhere out of space, we’re lulled into a dream like state as Molly coos with honey dripped concern, urging her man to sleep alone, as well as telling him what to do while he’s doing it; “You should dream about the sky/the sun the moon/and the reasons why/you should sleep alone tonight/we could be alright” Suddenly out of nowhere the dense, heavy laden guitar of Ralna is smacking us alongside Heather’s jabbing killer bass riff.

   A bit stunned, we’re just as quickly tossed back into the spacey lead guitar and bass groove that just won’t stop. The sultry vocal oozing a bit more information about this break up that lays out the problem to the guy and what he could (if he intends to) do to mend this relationship. As if she’s going to give him another chance, Ha! When Mollycoddle explodes again, you know she’s gone – outta there. But, she just can’t resist getting another shot in; “It’s taking me over,” she repeats as the music builds and builds behind the sweetness of her voice, and we feel the rage.

   That rage shows itself again in “i see you now.” It begins with one of the many small subtle nuances found throughout this disc that show the amazing artistic control and thought put into the construction of these songs; A dreary, hollow ringing, lack of promise chord progression that instantly changes upon the entry of a gigantic beat pounding in with the bass. This is where Ralna slams home the guitar in the hardcore fashion of a lumbering Rock dinosaur that would make Ozzy proud, as our girls (Molly) stick it to another one of the not-so-good guys. She tells him that she’s got him all figured out, “Standing in your make believe/I can see you there” but then confesses, “Wanna be your lover/'cause God knows I’m a friend/I can be the both of them/if you let me in/cause I can see you now.” A bold and provocative statement that leads into such a dirty, fuzzy, distorted guitar hook and run that it’ll have every male bowing and worshiping as Molly then delivers the venomous truth of her desire, “Wanna read your schizo head/so look me in the eye/ I can be a thorn there/and I can be your sty/I can see you now/I can see you now/ I can see you.” So relentless is this beating that we are left to question whether any man could stand up to being so exposed by the woman he desires, and who desires him as well – (still it ain’t happening).
No Mollycoddling here.

   Without letting up “punch” an emotional rocker with the power and fury of Smashing Pumpkins, comes through at a pace more inspired by The Ramones. “I see no meaning in this love/still you find excuses to hang around/dragging me down/pulling me down.” Another failed romance, another jerk to dump, here she ridicules him for not having “the guts to be a man” in reference to a punch he delivered; whether a physical or an emotional one, they both pack a wallop – which Molly gives right back with the brute force of the music and lyrics. By the time Ralna’s spitting and slashing guitar starts down an early Keith Richards inspired soaring solo we are rooting her on.

   All this conflict (absorption and reflection of emotional damage/scarring), affliction (giving as well as taking pain), and vulnerability (a point of such self awareness that is compensated in an overpowering manner to assure herself that he can have no recourse or hold any advantage over her mentally or emotionally. Yet, deep within the core of the heavily protected shell of toughness [represented by the masculine Rock music] there is a need to fall into the arms of someone who will share an unconditional love, to defend and protect her, to see that she will never be hurt again) are presented before we’ve even reached the halfway point of Lucky which arrives with;

   “silverfeet” The best put-together song we’ve heard in a long time – Think Jefferson Airplane on Acid (we know, redundant). This song SOARS with so much Phil Spector Wall of Sound production and Psychedelic Furs brand of beautiful chaos music that the result is a stunning mental stimulation achieved through the Talking Heads Psycho Killer style opening using lone drums and shaker building until Heather’s Bass and Ralna’s guitar join in laying down one seriously awesome groovin’ riff that by the time the lyrics kick in and tell us that Molly’s dreaming about the moon…
– Well, damn that fuzz guitar just explodes and allows the vocals to reach a height we haven’t heard since Janis Joplin (not that they can be compared side by side, but put the heart and attitude of Joplin into Molly and, there you have it), that it delivers us. We’re captured, we’re mesmerized, we’re dreaming about the moon and a type of abduction/seduction that can only be seen/felt by the disciples of Rock; “Closed my eyes for a moment/Dreamt I was there/Dreamt I was there.”

   This allows us to relate to Mollycoddle’s heartfelt sincerity in all aspects of their musical sojourns, not just the relationship sagas. And, after we’re done digging the wah-wah style riffs found in “vision boy”, we’re caught off guard by what follows;

   “backyard” is the headcase song that finally begins to show the breakdown that breakups can cause. Using Velvet Underground meets Led Zeppelin as musical inspiration, we’re taken to a backyard party with all the alcohol and illegal substances needed to loosen everyone up, Molly included: “He’s not my lover/but he’s in love with me/'cause he hasn’t seen/what’s really inside of me.” Whoa! Right up front she’s telling us, in a somewhat cocky manner, how disillusioned this guy is. Later, after a few bong hits and brewskis have broken down that tough exterior, she has the nerve to admit: “I don’t really love you/but I don’t know who else to be/so I’ll stick around/until you’re something that’s nothing to me.” We can almost hear his response of “don’t do me any favors” and we now have second thoughts about the true nature of Molly’s heart. She had won us over earlier with her masterful approach to the difficulty of presenting a dominant facade while deep within the heart aches and bleeds, but now we’re not so sure if the layers of thick skin have not only choked the sincerity out of her heart, but the purity out of her soul as well.

   We don’t have to wait long for our doubts to be unsubstantialized. Track 11 “fills me up” finds Ralna trading in her eccentric electric guitar for a mandolin, and while the shadow of “Landslide” sits awestruck in the corner Molly croons to us. The woman who has been smacking the men around while still seducing them, bears her soul in this classically written ballad.

   This time he left her (after the backyard party?), and she laments: “Your moving off just tears a hole into me.” She admits to breaking down: “I brace myself/but still I fell apart.” And we finally see just how much hurt she has been holding inside. Even though we’ve known all along that the pain was behind the curtain, Molly never opened it enough. Now we see it all, it tears a hole into us as well, and we ache for her as she finally reveals:

            “But the hardest part is waiting till tomorrow
            the hardest part is waiting till tomorrow.
            The trembling inside of me won’t let it go
            it seethes, it aches, it fills me all the time
            simply put; I guess I really love you.
            But the hardest part is waiting till tomorrow
            the hardest part is waiting till tomorrow.”

   Now the mandolin traces the tears and we see the vulnerable Molly, and we feel for her. Our Rock Goddesses expose their hearts and we understand how the human spirit can create artistic expression that digs deep into the soul.

   Lucky fittingly concludes with “somewhere on venus” (which contains some of the most captivating background trumpet [by Dave Raccagni] that you’ll ever hear), capping a CD that puts the man/woman relationship in better perspective than any book ever has.
Listen to this disc – I think you’ll understand.

   February begins Rockin’ and all is beautiful on a cosmic level. The Gods and Goddesses of Rock call to us and we listen, we have received the sign, we know music is still vital, we got LUCKY and we ROCK.

   You should get Lucky too.

Lucky by Mollycoddle
is now available for: $9.98 + s/h*

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