New York rocker proves
Bigger is better

Annie Quick - Bigger
(Paste Records)
3 1/2 stars (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: Jan. 4, 2005

Review by Tony Bonyata

If you've grown tired of the run-of-the-mill, sweet-voiced female singer / songwriters and are looking for a woman who actually delivers music that you can sink your teeth into (figuratively speaking), then Annie Quick is the girl for you. That's not to say that this New York City-based artist's voice isn't sweet, because other than being just that, it's also filled with passion, silky sensuality and ballsy verve.
On her second full-length album, Bigger, Quick offers up ten songs that showcase not only her voice but also the breadth of her songwriting skills and dexterity as both guitarist and bandleader. These songs are not your average female singer / songwriter fare, but rather powerful rock songs spiked with intense dynamics, muscular rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics.
All of the praise for this effort shouldn't go to Quick alone, however, as she also had a major contributor- her alter-ego Georgette. Much in the way David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character affected his own material in the early '70s, Georgette is holding Quick in a creative stranglehold. But whereas Ziggy's own self-proclaimed mortality threatened to swallow Bowie's own persona whole and reduce him to just another rock & roll casualty, the character of Georgette is a much tougher cookie. She's a rocker that's been around the block - rejected and repressed - yet still keeps swinging until she gets what she's after.
And it's this determined spirit that immediately grabs you on the opening number "Hit Like a Man," which - with its sinewy rhythm, urgent tempo changes and scrappy guitars - rocks with as much muscle and intensity as most of her male counterparts; not unlike PJ Harvey when she firmly proclaimed she was "man-sized" over a decade ago.
On heavier numbers such as "Charmed" the intoxicating, garagey guitar interplay between Quick and Matt Heslinga is reminiscent of early Detroit-era punk, while on the title track the duo spar off each other with grungey, fuzzed-up guitar tones similar to that of Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and James Iha from their more psychedelic Gish days.
While there's no denying the high-voltage nature of this album, Quick also interjects a more introspective sense of melancholy on the frail number "Dream Girl" as well as the closing song "Just For You," a near epic piece that eventually swells into a climatic ending with Quick majestically moaning over a swirling maelstrom of guitars and thundering drums.
Quirky, catchy, at times moody and introspective, but above all powerful and hard rocking, Annie Quick (along with her strong-willed alter ego, Georgette) proves that Bigger is better.