Silk Stocking
Dialogues With the Devil
Self-released
Liz MacGowan and Shawn Mauck start out their latest full-length like Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in an Ironweed bar—bare bones, raw, on the edge and with an inherent artistic chemistry that makes it evident there's not one other person with whom either would be better paired. "It Don't Make Sense (You Can't Make Peace)" is a brilliant rendition of the Willie Dixon classic that allows MacGowan to show off her new range-roving skills as she sings and howls with the sincere emotion of the wronged.
While the Silk Stocking has been compared before to an amalgam of Nick Cave, Tom Waits and PJ Harvey, the duo really makes the trifecta of burdened and blues-influenced songwriters proud on Dialogues. Mid-album, on "12 Years Later," MacGowan finds the vocals that were lost in the gap between Harvey's Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love. She is at once intimate, sexy and brutal. Cave's "The Carny" enjoys a bit of brief homage in "Dear You," and Waits is channeled through simple percussion and guttural haunts on "Motherless Child." These comparisons are not a discredit to Silk Stocking's originality, but rather a testament to their ability to create an eerie realm, a story and an emotion rarely accomplished even by self-proclaimed fans of such masters.
Dallas Observer 'Merritt Martin ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Liz McGowan howled and growled an extraordinary path while both courting and bitch-slapping Shawn Mauck's guitar lines with her piano. The audience was fixated on the group's understated onstage chemistry, and those unfamiliar with the duo were surprised by the intense--and at times masculine--vocals coming from the angel-faced McGowan. SS's set closed with a triple threat of MySpace darling "45 and Vodka," the Waits-Cave-Harvey love child "Waiving Long Distance" and a rousing, burly "Straight and Narrow" that's still notched happily in my brain. 'Dallas Observer----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Intensity is a good thing; it can't be learned or faked. Here, Silk Stocking clearly has the goods"-jennifer kelly-splendid -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Liz Macgowan is like Tom Waits with a sex change,as evidenced in the brutal "45 and Vodka"--Margaret Moser-Austin Chronicle ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Tom Waits and PJ Harvey fans would be insane to miss SS's opening set" Sam Machkovech-Dallas Observer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The cover art for this CD clarifies what you will find inside, drunken singing with slurred shouting. What it does not reveal is the masterful use of blues, mixed with a shot of punk and then poured over psychotic ice. The first release from the Dallas two-piece of piano player/vocalist Liz McGowan and guitarist Shawn Mauck is a 14-song journey through tales of loneliness, despair, and depression. The first song, "Every Man" is a sad tale of how everyone has it better than this pessimistic singer and the next song, "Walk with me" follows along the same lines. "45 and vodka," has received some radio airplay with its catchy chorus and the most upbeat tempo on the album and "waving long distance," personifies the bands sound that can only be described as Tom Waits bastard daughter with a European folk band backing her. The song, "Tree Planted By the Water" is the religious/protest? song on the L.P. with somewhat more coherent lyrics like, "jesus is my captain, We shall not be moved-Just like the tree planted down by the water." The only complaint is the lack of liner notes. You will want to sing along as you listen but will have to mumble and slur mysterious words until the more recognizable bits of each song come around. -Timmy Newell-Venues Magazine-April 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silk Stocking, a tasty Dallas duo with their own lost-at-sea/Tom Waits vibe-- Michael Chamy-Dallas Observer-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I love Silk Stocking. Liz has the most gruff, beautiful female vocals I've ever heard in my life. You like Tom Waits? You like Silk Stocking. You might even like Silk Stocking better. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that every time I see the duo live I get goosebumps. Alison 'Sub-Rosa Blog
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