Big Joanie

• Sistahs [Daydream Library, 2018] A-
• Back Home [Kill Rock Stars, 2022] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Sistahs [Daydream Library, 2018]
Not exactly the same all-female, all-Black trio that put out the 2022 Back Home album on Portland-based Kill Rock Stars because that band replaced bassist Kiera Coward-Deyell with Estella Adeyeri, making absolutely clear that while all three share cowrites on their two dozen songs, it's lead singer Stephanie Phillips who unassumingly puts them across. Note also that both albums were propped up by decisive American backing: Kill Rock Stars was preceded by Thurston Moore and Eva Prinz's label on this one. It makes sense as well that the Americans they opened for most often when they were getting started was Parquet Courts, indie-rock's most plainspoken band. They begin this 2018 debut with a bunch of what are better called friendship songs than love songs, thoughtful and calm if also slightly unsatisfied. Which is not to claim that trending in the love direction, as they do toward the end, seems to solve much. A-

Back Home [Kill Rock Stars, 2022]
These three second-generation Black British women are slotted punk and given their new label even riot grrrl. But that sure isn't how they sound, which matters when you've make a rock band your life for 10 years. The tempos are solidly moderate, the tunes sturdy as opposed to hooky and sometimes delivered on simple but striking keyboards including one that sounds like a smallish church organ. The direct, thoughtful lyrics are seldom confrontational but often questioning or just curious, shot through with but not dominated by the interpersonal. Basically their goal is to try and make their lives work. Aren't politics included, you wonder. Of course they are, because all three smart thoughtful women are conscious in the broadest sense and even more likable as a result. A-