Pitchfork

One feels wary of comparing female singers of a certain disposition to P.J. Harvey and Cat Power-- there's a myopia about it, like comparing any male singer who wears wraparound shades to Bono. Yet on Alina Simone's MySpace page, the Ukrainian-born musician prominently lists Harvey and Cat Power in both the "Influences" and "Sounds Like" columns. So don't kill the messenger. On "Saw Edged Grass", Simone's singing is sometimes raw and yelping like Harvey's, sometimes faltering like Chan Marshall's, always treading a surefooted path through a black briar patch of guitars. It's a durable tune with wiry arpeggios and a dirty, chugging bridge that make it sound as much like early 1990s Dischord (think a more polished Slant 6) as early 90s Harvey (think Rid of Me).

MP3:> Alina Simone: "Saw Edged Grass"
[From Placelessness; due 09/18/07 on 54º 40 or Fight]