Geisha Girls

With twitching guitars, manic bass lines and taut drums, Geisha Girls pull up smoky, sleek sounds. Not afraid to tangle themselves up in darker approaches, this Orange County band tread into twisting, electric tapestries. Early on in the album it soon becomes evident that vocalist and bassist Shawn Robert is a dead ringer for Robert Smith circa 1981, although updated with glorious abrasion. The dark edges grow a little deeper on "Regrets” when some ticks and pauses start sounding reminiscent of the beginning of Bauhaus’ "Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The title track straddles between concise and rambling; the vocals stumble over the angular cracks of the guitar, bringing a sense of haphazard spontaneity to the forefront. Geisha Girls never stray too far from the style they establish early on and the constant tugs and nudges make it hard not to get pulled in and dragged away into their world.