The first sound on Dark Snack is a screeching electric guitar, which would be Melissa Swingle’s way of declaring her intentions right up-front: After five albums of gothic alt-country with Trailer Bride, Swingle is ready to let the feedback fly. Not that she has completely forsaken her former band’s eccentricities. Dark Snack sounds southern, rural and quirky, and it closes with an instrumental featuring the ghostly sounds of a wavering saw (one of Swingle’s favorite sonic accessories).
Mostly, though, this is about The Rock. The Moaners are a duo featuring Swingle and monstrously powerful drummer Laura King, formerly of Firehose alumnus Ed Crawford’s band Grand National. As such, they’ll draw inevitable comparisons to the White Stripes, Black Keys and other blues-leaning garage-rock duos. But Swingle can match wiseacre blues personas with the best of ’em.
Swingle and King bash through a dozen short, sharp songs about overpopulation, speakeasies, hard times, politics, irritating little dogs and going down the road feelin’ bad. An underrated guitarist, Swingle has never sounded better, filling up acres of space all by her lonesome. But it’s her voice that still defines her, a deadpan deep-south drawl that can go from polite to contemptuous and back before you know it.
Throughout Dark Snack, Swingle sounds liberated, even if it’s by necessity. “A four-piece band just won’t make ends meet,” Swingle sings on “Hard Times”. “Tonight, baby, it’s you and me.”
That’ll work.