Lida Husik - Your Bag - Cassette

Your Bag was released the same year as Lida Husik's debut, Bozo, and, in many ways, it's more like a continuation of that release rather than something completely new. Granted, it's a little more experimental and a little less cohesive, but most of it works just as well and in much the same way. Standout tracks include the wistful title cut ("I had a dream/you were already across the track/walking like a stick figure/never coming back"), "Whirlybird," and "Ship Going Down." Husik continues to evoke Siouxsie and the Banshees' dusky, minor-key psychedelia at times (on "Whirlybird," in particular), although she's more of a one-woman band, credited on this recording with guitar, vocals, keyboards, and co-production (along with Jamie Harley and Shimmy Disc founder, Kramer). "The Match From Mars," which concludes the set, witnesses Husik plunging deeper into electronica -- but not entirely successfully. The rambling, sample-laden 10:35-minute track plays a bit like her own "Revolution 9" (not exactly the Beatles' strongest composition). Altogether, five of the seven tracks on Your Bag top five minutes as opposed to Bozo's 12 tracks of a more conventional length.

Song List
1. Your Bag
2. Toy Surprise
3. Whirlybird
4. Ship Going Down
5. Marcel
6. Candy Store
7. Match From Mars, The


YOUR BAG, appeared less than a year after her first. The differences between the two are striking. Where the debut had a dozen songs, this one has only seven, with all but two of them over five minutes in length. Husik still explores the dreamy, mesmerizing world of hypnotic patterns and psychedelic sounds and production. However, the folkish songcraft that marked the first album has been supplanted by a more open-ended style. In addition, she's joined this time by percussionist and vocalist Jamie Harley (who's also played with The Assassins and The Egomaniacs). Husik still plays all the guitars and keyboards herself, but this album boasts a genuine band at its core, which gives the album a sound of practiced interplay.