Originally published in Verbicide issue #6

The press release says that this debut album is a “focused, concise, and — dare we say it? — mature pop record.” Sure, you can say it. “Mature” is a fine description for this record, and so is “radio-friendly with mainstream potential.” That potential seems to follow Elizabeth Elmore, the former Sarge-front woman who now leads The Reputation.

Sarge, who disbanded in 1999 at the height of their popularity, gained a lot of attention from mainstream press outlets such as Playboy and Rolling Stone. It was not only their sound that gained the attention of such corporate fat cats, but also the fact that the Liz Phair-ish, “angry-girl-in-a-man’s-world” qualities of Elmore were so easy to market. Well, now she’s back, and the lyrics are still brutally honest and the music is still poppy, but it seems that Elmore has grown up. The songwriting captures the controlled anxiety of twenty-something-hood, but it hasn’t completely lost that girlish touch of anger.

The essence of Elmore is best captured in the fairy-dance track, “For the Win”: “You know it’s true and there’s nothing you can say to deny it/ I’m your favorite piece of ass when you’ve got something to prove/I still take it any time that you want it whether it’s the floor of my van or a Dallas hotel room/and now that you’re over her I guess I’ve outlived my use.” After this song there is several minutes of silence and the record concludes with track 10, a cover of Elvis Costello’s “Almost Blue.” The Reputation’s version is much better.

(Initial Records, PO Box 17131, Louisville, KY 40217)