Connecticut Four – Tiger Shark
Oh at last a rock ‘n’ roll record. First of all it’s always neat when a trio calls themselves a foursome and thanks Kirby Pucket in their liner notes. Secondly I’m distraught because I never got to check out CT4 live before their recent break-up (hopefully, like nearly every other band in Bellingham rock ‘n’ roll history, they will reform).
The band’s 5-song record, Tiger Shark, is a fabulous ray of sunlight in the November monsoon we have been enduring. The CD gets the heart pumping right from the start with the infectious “chutes and ladders,” a Replacements-like stomp led by singer/bass player Cristina Boutista’s killer performance, which by the way is the highlight of the record for me. Ms. Boutista is an explosive singer along the lines of Pat Benatar and Joan Jett, her passionate screams gave me goosebumps on my goosebumps.
That is only the beginning because Meghan Kessinger brings it home with her neat, hooky guitar parts and introspectively cool, geeky lyrics that are refreshing in this world of hipster jerks as outlined in the awesome “Fiscal Year.”
The band then rolls the poppy “Once Electric,” which really sounds like a “hard rockin’” Pat Benatar song and features insane drumming by Valerie Brogden, who also kicks arse throughout the effort with perfect skins. It all comes to a boil on the records last song “If we were Robots,” which has Boutista screaming ferociously that “I won’t be sleeping tonight.”
Self Released
www.myspace.com/connecticutfour
