Staff Reviews

The Coathangers - Suck My Shirt

Review by Jon Clark

On Suck My Shirt The Coathangers have shown themselves to be songwriters of real ability.»

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'Suck My Shirt' is the The Coathangers' fourth full-length. Album opener 'Follow Me' is a classic Coathangers tune with the raspy vocals of Rusty Coathanger (Stephanie Luke) belted out over the signature grimy rock laid down by Crook Kid and bassist Minnie Coathanger (Meredith Franco). But the chorus opens into one of the most accessible hooks in the band's canon, just before segueing into the next verse with a squall of violent dissonant guitar. From there the band launches into 'Shut Up', a title that harkens back to the brash sass of their first record. The song still has its spikey guitar riffs and shouted chorus, but here The Coathangers sound less like a jubilant version of Huggy Bear and more like the art-pop of late-era Minutemen. Dedicated Coathangers fans will recognize the re-worked versions of 'Merry Go Round', 'Smother', 'Adderall', and 'Derek's Song' from their run of limited edition split 7"s, and hearing them in the context of the album shows that these tracks weren't merely isolated examples of the band's more sophisticated side, but were actually demonstrative of the group's increasing capacity for nestling solid melodic hooks and rock heft into their repertoire. By the time the band wraps up the album with the humble pop perfection of 'Drive', it's hard to believe this was the band that garnered their reputation with raucous bombasts like 'Don't Touch My Shit'.
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