The Claudettes Follow Their Own Muse for ‘High Times in the Dark’
Grant Britt
Posted On April 2, 2020
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A guy walks into a bar … but in this version, the bar is a movable musical feast, the guy is avant-garde pianist Johnny Iguana (Junior Wells, Otis Rush) and the concept, originally marketed by a Korean bar owner, featured initial alleged vocalist Claudette shouting out drink specials backed by Iguana and percussionist Michael Caskey (Chuck Mangione, John Sinclair) over an unholy mix of red hot boogie-woogie/psychedelic blues.
Funny thing is, as The Claudettes progressed, the strangeness got serious, dropping Claudette and morphing from the French bubblegum yé-yé interpretations of Nigerian-American vocalist Yana on 2015’s No Hotel to the sultry cabaret of current vocalist Berit Ulseth on the previous release, 2018’s Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium, and their new one.
If you’re looking for a label, acid-drenched cabaret won’t slide off immediately, but anything descriptive you apply to this bunch has a tendency to peel. Ulseth has brought more of a standard cabaret feel, but Iguana and cohorts still keep it trippy. Iguana has characterized the band’s sound as somewhere between roots and punk, but that’s a long meandering journey with lots of detours.
Take “Creeper Weed,” which features Iguana banging away like Jerry Lee and Ulseth warbling frenetically over the top like a chanteuse on Ritalin. “24/5” is metal-clad boogie-woogie laid over a relentless head-banging rhythm section.
But just when you think you’ve got it figured out, the whole thing turns on you with “The Sun Will Fool You.” Iguana’s piano gives a shimmery but chilly accompaniment to Ulseth’s account of a lover who generates heat but no real warmth:
I get accustomed to your warmth
Then on the coldest days
You’re there, you’re right there
But I feel nothing from you.
Downshift to “Declined,” a rattly rocker barely restrained from kicking out the jams by Ulseth’s velvety delivery with a cutting undertone: “declined, please do not apply again,” she tells would-be loved ones applying for her amorous attention.
For yet another change of pace, there’s “Bad Babe, Losin’ Touch,” a sultry scolding of a foolish lover who doesn’t come around like he used to, undermined by ruffles and flourishes from Iguana and pals Caskey on drums and Zach Verdoorn on bass.
Always unpredictable, deliciously abnormal, High Times in the Dark is a happy hour you’ll hang around for till last call.
