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What are music reviews typically meant to do? Usually to introduce people to new or upcoming artists that they may not have heard of yet, right? So what have I done this week? I’ve found a small band that disbanded in June 2016, according to their Facebook page. I’m fairly confident most people do not know of them, though, and that’s terrible.
Whether or not the band is broken up or not isn’t actually very clear though, because evidently they played a concert last Saturday, February 15. So, I suppose get into this band at your own risk, because there may never be any more music than there was in 2016.
Now, without further ado: I will actually talk about The Original Crooks and Nannies. This is a band, much like many others that I listen to, which first turned up in my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. The Original Crooks and Nannies are an alternative / indie rock / pop band which is actually only made up of two people: Madeline Rafter and Sam Huntington. Both musicians provide vocals, guitar and synth in their music and Huntington also provides bass and sampling.
Listening to their songs, though, you wouldn’t realize that it is two 20-somethings recording from Philadelphia. Their music has some bouncy, electronic overtones while still keeping the raw guitar of rock and catchy elements of pop. I especially appreciate their sometimes unusual lyrics and the individualistic vocals that these are presented with.
It takes everything in me to not simply recommend each and every song they have in their setlist. Seriously, if you’ve read this far into the article, just go give some of their songs a listen! It can’t hurt anything, as far as I can figure. Since I cannot talk about every song, here are my thoughts on a couple.
“Carry Me” is the band’s most popular song, is the first song I heard from them and is the only song they have an actual music video for. On that note, the music video is positively alarming. In the video both members sit and have their heads shaved as they lip sync to their song’s audio. Then, in an audio break they haphazardly use duct tape to make wig caps that they can stick the shorn hair to. I’m sure you can see where this is going. They, of course, need to then wear their own hair, but on these awful wigs to dance around and perform the rest of their song.
Another song I must mention is “Gardens.” This track is a high pace song with music that I cannot help but dance to and weird, wonderful words. The lines “Do you remember the Alamo? Cause I sure don’t” have been in my head for several days, but I can’t resent it. This song also includes charming stylistic choices such as having spoken responses to lines and layering up from a quiet bridge to a loud and complicated reprised chorus. “Gardens” has to be my favorite track.
For lack of space, I will only mention one more song, and this one slows things down a bit. “Holy Wreck” is the last track on their more recent album from 2016, “Ugly Laugh.” This song is vulnerable, beautiful and relatable. Two thirds of the song only uses acoustic guitar, starkly different from their normal sound, before evolving into a loud and heavily layered, slightly distorted repetition of the chorus. It concludes by cutting back to just the guitar and the first two lines of the song, “I know it / I know it hurts.”
Outside of their music, something else I appreciate about this band is that the members seem to have a sense of humor which I believe exemplifies the strange comedy our generation enjoys. Their Instagram page theoriginalcrooksandnannies shows this off, as does the story behind their band’s name. The Original Crooks and Nannies is a spin on the “nooks and crannies” of Thomas’ brand original English muffins. Genius. The name, the music, the social media posts and everything else about them. Now, if they could only confirm they are back together that would be superb.
