grenadine - nopalitos (1994)

from the simple machines web page:

Fuck the Cocktail nation, it's Grenadine! From 1992-1998, Grenadine set hearts swooning with their 1920's-inspired ballads. Both full-lengths, Goya and Nopalitos, are a pleasing show of tap dancing, joke telling, coconut welding pop, as well as a few heart stopping ballads spread out across the top of the upright piano for the die hard romantics in the balcony.

All three Grenadine members have long been fixtures in the independent music scene. Jenny Toomey has played in about a half dozen bands in DC and Olympia including, Geek, Slack, My New Boyfriend, the short-lived acoustic duo Choke, Liquorice and most recently Tsunami. Mark Robinson also has a trail of bands behind him, most notably the power pop trios Unrest and Air Miami. Rob Christiansen is best known for his guitar/trombone playing role in the band Eggs, bass for Liquorice and his amazing musical/band project Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers.

Grenadine hardly *ever* played live shows, so their finale performance at the Simple Machines goodbye party was truly a treat. Jenny, Mark and Rob wowed the crowd, swinging easily between melancholy tunes and gorgeous strummy pop songs. And now what does the discerning indie pop fan do who feels like slipping into something more...velvety? Don't forget. Grenadine.

Nopalitos review:

Though we've come to expect a challenge from enigmatic supergroup Grenadine (one part Unrest, one part Tsunami, one part Eggs), the trio has thrown us for yet another loop. Some of the songs on "Napalitos" are unsurprising (some of Mark Robinson's songs have a distinct Unrest flair, while some of Jenny Toomey's have a clear Tsunami ring), but many of the tracks are not as easily traceable. The band's approach to the songs, especially in the barber shop quartet style of "Hell Over Hickory Dew" and the old-school cartoon-y "Roundabout On A Tuesday," has a distinctive 1920's old-timey feel. In addition to the songwriting, the recording techniques distinguish Grenadine from its contemporaries. The songs become progressively stranger with increasingly odd production. Warren Defever has done a fabulous job compounding the bizarre quality of the songs, most noticeably on "Speeding," which is remixed to an almost unrecognizable extent as "Snik" four songs later. It all culminates in the wildly beautiful underwater-like warble of the Burt Bacharach/Herb Alpert cover "This Girl's In Love."
-DAWN SUTTER


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