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Sallie Ford: Slap Back

Music Reviews Sallie Ford
Sallie Ford: Slap Back

When Sallie Ford decided to split from her longtime group The Sound Outside in 2013? amicably?it was viewed with a bit of skepticism. After all, as a unit, Ford and company had only recently enjoyed the successful release of their saucy sophomore LP, Untamed Beast, and had reaped accolades for long European and U.S. tours. Whether the split was the result of the limiting “rockabilly” quotient of her notoriety or something else is unclear. What is clear is that Ford’s new position leading an all-female band is an about-face in a lot of ways from her tenure leading The Sound Outside.

That sentiment isn’t immediately evident on Slap Back. Ford’s new band features a Portland who’s-who, including Anita Lee Elliot (Viva Voce, Blue Giant) on bass, Amanda Spring (Point Juncture, WA) on drums and Cristina Cano (Albatross, Siren & the Sea) on keyboards. The album’s intro is an a cappella piece, blending three or four voices with the refrain “Oh baby won’t you let me have you like I had you last night” in a kind of seductive R&B take that provides a jolting first glimpse into Ford’s purportedly more rockin’, rollin’ project.

That sparseness, though, is soon sidestepped on the lead single “Coulda Been.” Executing a dirty, distorted guitar progression, bongos, shakers and a Peter, Bjorn and John “Young Folks”-like drum beat, the quartet declares autonomy from the shackles of past projects, incorporating space-y effects and electronic patinas throughout the song’s extended outro. The following track, “Workin’ the Job,” opens in the same fashion, with laserbeam aural manipulations and Ford’s lamentations of day-job hell.

With production helmed by The Decemberists’ Chris Funk, it’s clear that Ford’s deeply varied muses were given ample room to breathe, and by the time you reach the organs-and-jangly guitar exhibition of “Never Be Lame”?maybe the closest track to what The Sound Outside may have swerved toward had the parting of ways not happened?it’s clear that Ford’s vision for a new avenue on which to strut her sultry tunes has paid off. Slap Back is a solid extension of Ford’s well-noted laissez faire disposition, even while invoking equality empowerment with a quiver of raucous, garage-y rock tunes about love, sex and everything in between.

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