The Raincoats

Looking in the Shadows (DGC)
by Joshua Brown

Fanatics and followers of grrrl grrroups like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile need to know that their sound and style was mothered by England’s The Raincoats. (Some like to think it came about through artificial insemination, since nobody believes in immaculate conception any more, as much as they might like to.) The Raincoats earned their feminist purple hearts with clever vexation and pop songwriting that made ’70s punk female-friendly. The songs were dainty and sassy, the voice never whiny or shrieky. Their material might now be quite wrongly relegated to a spot next to the Waitresses’ records in common wisdom (in other words, fun but getting moldy), if it weren’t for a young couple named Kurt and Courtney who happened by and convinced their record label DGC to reissue the old Raincoats releases. In answer to renewed interest, an EP was released recently on Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley’s label Smells Like Records. The new follow-up, Looking In the Shadows, is the first full-length by the Raincoats in nine years. Both recordings serve as an honorable tribute to their benefactor Kurt Cobain’s memory and quest for nirvana. The new Raincoats line-up includes two original members, Ana de Silva and Gina Birch, and two new ones, violinist Anne Wood and Bratmobile’s ex-drummer Heather Dunn.