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Review in Stylus Magazine (February/March issue)
ALPHA COUPLE - Stalingrad
Mark Wohlgemuth and Kristel Jax always seem to pride themselves on their intergrity (and why the fuck shouldn’t they?) — and an album about their own relationship is a wonderful concept that they’ve unleashed their full potential on. Take, for example, “Subject Yup,” full of answering machine-sounding clips that make for a concrete situation, the two reassuring each other. Yet, the very next track “Edna Pontellier” is allegorical, Jax gently singing for Wohlgemuth to “come swim out in the water / Don’t you know it’s just as cold as on land?” The jump from each track to the next on Stalingrad is just as thematically great, yet it never falters in continuity. I’m at a loss of how to sum it all up; they’re songs carried solely by acousitic guitar and keyboards but they’re also heavy on atmospherics and samples; Alpha Couple scream, and they don’t always sing in tune, and yet they have the best hooks; they sing at each other, and never with each other. At points, it’s tough to tell whether all of the songs are about their relationship, but it’s certainly been a subject that’s kept John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats occupied, having crafted dozens of songs about his own alpha couple, whom Alpha Couple took the name from. Regardless, this is chilling, thought-provoking stuff.
(Independent, www.myspace.com/alphacoupleband) Taylor Burgess
