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Vancouver’s Girl Goes Electric is a new world band. With roots on the World Wide Web and in a corporate coffee house there is nothing old school about the band. Girl Goes Electric is comprised of singer/songwriter Susan Dixon and keyboardist/programmer Adam Percy. Dixon has been entertaining audiences for several years with honest songwriting, a razor sharp wit and a knowing smile. Adam Percy previously held keyboard/programming duties for Toronto’s Acid Test. He’s also done tour/recording duties with Econoline Crush and Bif Naked. On the Girl Goes Electric E.P., Dixon provider Percy with new and exciting musical themes to landscape while Percy draws Dixon out of herself to create full, vibrant songs that traverse the electro-acoustic landscape.
Rough With My Body opens as an invitation and exhortation. The narrator is happy for the implied attention but also displays an emotional vulnerability that is exceedingly human in pop music. The song has a great groove to it that would allow it to pass into the club scene without difficulty, but could also be stripped down into a straight up rock or even folk arrangement with ease. Come As You Are is a bit more wanton in its desires but is also a bit more repressed musically. This sonic ambivalence is both disturbing and intriguing and leaves you wondering about the true intentions of the antagonist. Just Drive is a stark and poignant look at bad choices as they might look in the middle of the night. Dixon’s voice has been enhanced with effects here to provide a dreamlike quality to the vocal that magnifies the “bad dream” feel of the subject matter. One Inside Another is an upbeat pop song with electronic flourish that’s a solid continuity piece leading into Pin-Up Girl. Pin-Up Girl has a burlesque quality beyond the mere suggestion of its title. The musical arrangement is dark and full of a jazz/funk feel that frames the song perfectly. Best of all, Susan Dixon does her best vocal work here; breaking out of the shell that she’s been hemmed into over the first four songs. Here the performance personality Dixon is known for simply runs off the speakers in waves.
Girl Goes Electric is an interesting marriage of electric and acoustic, although the arrangements here seem to use Dixon’s acoustic-based writing as a mere guide as Adam Percy whips up an electronic world for each song to inhabit. The songs are edgy and interesting and bordering on truly unique, but I almost think I would have enjoyed them more if there were a bit more balance between the electronic and acoustic elements. Susan Dixon is at her vocal best on the last track, but at times seems trapped within all of the electronic framing Percy creates. The individual parts here are great, and the sum is really quite good, but the balance might benefit from a little tweaking. Nevertheless, the Girl Goes Electric E.P. is a great introduction to the duo!
Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5) - http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/
Adam and Susan throw down a sweet soulful groove on this tune. I have to admit what it really was, well it was the name of the song, when I first saw the title of the song it piqued my interest, but only in the musical sense mind you, because in music there could be duality occurring...so dont get the wrong idea here...
Anyways this song moves towards the jazzy side of things with a twist of electronic wizardry by Adam (Great use of programming, cool percussive qualities incorporated and some fine chops there on piano too bit of a bluesy feel! and well produced as the caressing strings offer up a thoughtful nature of sorts ) and the reflective sexy sultry vocals by Susan and this tune takes you on a journey of sorts.
There is definitely a club atmospheric element about the tune as the song swirls about and you could find yourself sipping one or two or some other good things..... and then of course the lyrical content is intriguing as Susan envelopes you with her Sensuous vocals and you drift into the song and dream along as she hooks you with the Line " be rough with my body and gentle with my mind" yeah,clever one Susan, I thought that was genius coming up with that line. Nice one Susan, great hook there and we all need to be treated with care and respect...
Susan's song crafting has some definite value and reading through her lyrics made me appreciate the skill these people develop from their personal experiences and dovetail the same into song....my kind of song since I lean towards the jazz funk & blues styles with a twist of course - Music Is Truth Internet Radio
Discography
Our first release, the self titled Girl Goes Electric E.P. is available online in digital and CD format with iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon, and others. We are being played on CBC Radio 3 in Canada, and the song "Rough With My Body" is getting regular play on several stations including iRadio LA, and has been in the top ten most requested songs on UnderWorld Mix Radio.
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Bio
In true 21st century style, Girl Goes Electric is a partnership conceived on the World Wide Web and launched at a corporate coffee house. Girl Goes Electric is an electroacoustic fusion of Susan Dixon’s compelling original songs and artful handling of a guitar with Adam Percy’s passion for programming and mad keyboard genius. With sounds ranging from pulsing trip-hop and rhythmic melancholy dance music to rollicking barrelhouse, the rich textures and layers tease the ear as they reveal themselves, recalling artists like Morcheeba, Everything But The Girl, and Massive Attack.
Songwriter and chanteuse Susan Dixon is not your typical guitar-wielding chick. Her electric blue eyes and coy charm have been drawing in audiences since she first took to the stage at seventeen, but it is her wry lyrical sensibility that leaves you hanging off every word. With a confident voice and strong musicality, Susan sings of life’s beautiful frustrations - always with a playfully arched eyebrow that lets you know she is quite a joyful girl in spite of herself. Her roots are in Winnipeg, where she began her love affair with the guitar at age eight and started writing songs as an angsty adolescent. As a student at a French-language university, Susan developed cult status as “that anglo girl who writes French songs,” and went on to record a 12-song release entitled Minuit et quart. Building on a loyal following, she made multiple appearances in venues around town and garnered airplay on local radio stations. After a few misspent years writing and playing in Halifax, Susan moved her bones, books, most of her heart and what’s left of her mind to the west coast, and is thrilled to be the girl in Girl Goes Electric.
Hailing from suburban Toronto, Adam Percy cut his teeth playing and programming keyboards with Toronto funk-rock alternative group Acid Test. Their indie EP Trip On This scored the band a stint on Sire/Warner Bros. and an album release titled Drop. Top opening slots and tours quickly followed, including shows with Nine Inch Nails, Sugar Ray, Sloan, 54-40, The Ocean Blue and The Sugarcubes. Adam then took ..board touring duty with Econoline Crush, touring the US, Canada and Europe for the album Affliction on the bill with artists such as Filter, The Tea Party, Die Krupps and The Young Gods. He was then recruited for programming duties on the Bif Naked album I Bificus, which sold gold in Canada. Recording was quickly followed by tours as her keyboard player and gigging with the likes of SNFU, Raggadeath and Glueleg. After many more years of producing and recording under his belt and a recent relocation back to Vancouver, Adam brings his programming, production, and performing artistry to this new project.
Girl Goes Electric is a perfect marriage of the organic and the synthetic. Fresh, quirky, and cool. Clever, sexy, and real. Look for Girl Goes Electric, soon to be rocking a crowd near you.
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