Meg & Dia & The New York Times

Jon Caramanica reviewed the new Meg & Dia album, Here, Here and Here in The New York Times:

 

“When the Utah sister duo Meg & Dia released its strong breakthrough album, ‘Something Real’ (Doghouse), in 2006, it was a heady time for mainstream emo, with a generation of tattooed young men expressing themselves in scabrous fashion. And while that album had only a few strands of emo’s punk DNA, it was just enough to stand out as a possible corrective to that genre’s mopey egotism. At the very least, it proved that young women could whine just as compellingly as young men.

So much for all that. Meg & Dia’s follow-up, ‘Here, Here and Here,’ has left those boys in the dust, or at least taken wider aim. This is a curious album, appealingly imperfect, with hints of several intriguing directions. Once whispery singer-songwriters, Meg and Dia Frampton are becoming polymaths of a sort, working through various shades of pop and discoloring them with decidedly odd lyrical choices and unfaithful arrangements.”

 

It’s pretty interesting to see Meg & Dia highlighted in The Times. Partially, the existence of Meg & Dia gives some weight to the idea that emo, for all the acts that have misogynistic undertones, does have some appeal to women. Meg & Dia provide that much-needed band-as-an-example, well, example for individuals who can’t seem to see why some females are drawn to the genre… just because a majority of the artists are male, it doesn’t mean they have to be. After all, emo is a subgenre of punk, a genre that was created and billed as a revolution against the same-ole-same-ole business of the rock business. It’s not only right that there is an emo act lead by women, but it should be expected. Err… unexpected as the entire idea behind not doing things as usual is by not doing things as usual.

Anyway, it’s also nice to see the duo/band do as well as they have… I remember waiting in line at Warped Tour 2006, outside the carefully constructed chain-link fence sealing the festival in at the Fitchburg airfield. Out among the kids in line were Meg & Dia, walking up to each and every person in line, passing them flyers for their album and asking that they come see their set later in the day at one of the side stages. It was refreshing to see a couple of musicians truly care not only about their fans, but about their music, and go to all lengths to actually get the chance to play their music as a job. It’s something you have to admire, even if you don’t like their music.

Meg & Dia – “Monster” (video):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlQGgDE9NNk]