Message to Garcia

Rachel Flotard and Ben Hooker return kicking, five years after the Seattle trio's sophomore effort Sunset on Dateland. The half-decade disappearance has had no deleterious effect on their big, heavy, melodic attack, despite the loss of northwest punk pioneer bassist Kim Warnick to retirement. The punky crunch of Sunset and 2003's hot King Me may have dissipated a soupçon without Warnick's tough punk-chick chops, but with Nirvana/Foo Fighters and King Me producer Barrett Jones manning the position — and returning as engineer/co-producer — Visqueen's wild wallop remains hard 'n' tight. Perhaps their sound just tips closer to Cheap Trick now than Warnick's Fastbacks, though fellow ex-Fastback Kurt Bloch mixed this. (Scattered piano, organ, horns, pedal steel, cello, etc. add superb new depth and color, too.) And though there are copious guest stars such as Neko Case (on five songs; Flotard has similarly backed the New Pornographers, and Case, for years) and the Long Winters' John Roderick; the high-energy, uptempo, elastic blast of Visqueen is Flotard's stock in trade, with her kick-ass licks (augmented by new second guitarist Tom Cummings), her commanding thick pipes and compassionate lyrics, and Hooker's slam-banging. Man, it's great to have them back. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Rovi