Overflower power

The picture gets rosier with Flora and Fauna

by Bob Gualla

Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it takes a single record to put a scene like Providence's back on the music map. A few years back it was Combustible Edison and Six Finger Satellite and Velvet Crush making waves together. Lately it's been little more than those Amazing Crowns who have had some national impact. All you can do is continue throwing darts at the board and hope that something sticks.

The latest Providence dart comes from Overflower, whose new disc, Flora and Fauna, is out this week on Renee Bessette's Brentwood Estates label. It's a spare and somber take on pop music, deliberate in its dark intentions, introspective at its humble core. Background on the band runs on the deep side. Marc and Jason Bouchard stand in charge of bass and guitars, while John Orsi handles percussion and Karen Riendeau takes on second guitar, some percussion and singing. Marc and John previously formed the creative axis of Blueshift Signal, a respectable band in its own right. Orsi moonlights with his own Knitting by Twilight. Karen dabbles in her own rock side project called Midge. She was most recently a member of Pistolwhip, and before that, for a couple of months, in Rola with Joyce Raskin late of Scarce. Jason hung with a band called Euthanasia and also did some time with Blueshift Signal. Clearly, there's music in the bloodlines.

The Overflower story began two years ago. The Bouchards had some stuff on four-track that needed fleshing out. They phoned up Riendeau and brought in Orsi. From the beginning, the vibe was good and open. "It was pretty organic," Riendeau recalls. "We never sat down and said, `Let's try for something like this.' It would just happen then we'd go back and pick it apart, look for the good stuff."

Because the members of Overflower began on the same page, the creative ideal feels sound and consistent. It's not cutting edge stuff. Rather it's democratically ambitious, pleasantly atmospheric, and it compares favorably to lots of other more pretentious art-product. "It's the first band I've been in where everybody just loves to play," says Riendeau. "That's the main thing, so we're really open to all kinds of ideas. There's no one person who decides what gets done."

For Flora and Fauna, the process stayed simple. The band went into Ivy Lane studios for a weekend to cut basics, took two and a half days for mixdown, then went the extra step for a pro-sounding mastering job. That happened at Sound Mirror up in Cambridge.

In a sense, the record reflects< -- but doesn't mimic -- the band's offbeat influences, from Laurie Anderson and Bjork to Throwing Muses and the Cocteau Twins. "We're all into lots of different kids of music," Riendeau admits. "John's into all kinds of different international stuff. You won't exactly hear those influences in our music but you will hear that we have different musical sensibilities than a lot of bands."

What you'll also hear in Overflower is the band's desire to play something you've not heard before. Not much of what they do stylistically or with arrangements has much of anything to do with cliche and that's good. They know their instruments and their product feels studied but not labored. It is not their derivative preoccupation to sound unique, rather an obsession.

But with Riendeau and Orsi's hands on side projects, does Overflower qualify as an obsession? "We've promised to make the band our main gig," says Riendeau firmly. "We're hoping to tour this record at least from Boston down to D.C. You never know what'll come of it."

Overflower's CD release show happens at AS220 on Saturday, December 11. Also appearing on the bill are Meridian 1520 from Providence and Barcelona from (where else?) D.C.

WANDERING EYE. Band call! Sean, the webmaster over at Rattlehead Records, is still trying locate area bands for his local music database. Among those missing: Blue Blood, Camelia, the Complaints, Dave Howard, Delta Clutch, DJ Lauria, Eric Narwhal, Greg Piccolo, Jack Smith, Vic Foley, Loose Change, Medicine Ball, Pappy Chullo, Rick Mendes, Ricky Valente, Rory and the Blues Hounds, Sea Monkey Stew, the Agents, and the Fabulous Itchies. If you're online, e-mail him and find out what information he needs. It certainly can't hurt, and it'll most likely help a lot. If you're electronically illiterate ring him up at 738-8647.

Island Arts, that charming gallery down Newport way deserves your attention tonight. They'll be hosting a Lakuna CD and video release party. Lakuna, Dave Narcizo's new project, is something of a multimedia thang, with art, film, and music all working off each other. The night begins early, like 7 p.m., in the gallery where you can hear the disc, drink some beer and look at pictures. Then the party moves upstairs to the club where Narcizo's videos will be shown. A DJ will finish off the night.

Just as Purple Ivy Shadows' deep and excellent White Electric is beginning to sink in, they've decided to release Mexican Party, a new full-length disc of cover songs. Says Erik Carlson (who I mistakenly described as a megalomaniac a couple of weeks ago, sorry), "This project was long in the schematic phase. We hoped to someday release a number of tribute songs we've recorded over the years, but when a start-up Providence label called Handsome Records asked us to be their first release, we quickly got it together and in less than three months recorded nine songs, mixed and mastered everything, and will release the CD on December 11." The show is at the Safari Lounge. Admission is free.

Also on the same night, Bob Franke steps up to the mike at Stone Soup. The storied folksinger does it like few others and folk music fans will surely be pleased with his considerable artistry. As always, get there early and before you leave, put your chair up against the wall. Yeah, we love Stone Soup.

E-me at b_gulla@yahoo.com if you've got something for me to hear. Also, let me know if you're a music fanatic who'd like to do a "Perfect Ten" list. You choose the topic and it ends up right here on this page.