MEG LEE CHIN
PIECE AND LOVE
ALBUM INVISIBLE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 15, 1999
When I listen to Meg Lee Chin's debut solo album "Piece and Love" I can't
help but wonder why she hasn't ended up on record before, except for a few
Pigface tracks. "Piece and Love" is namely an album that's pulsating with
energy, humour, pop choruses and a production part industrial, part hip hop,
part dub.
"I saw the best minds of my generation/Running on empty/Super glued to the
TV" she sings in "Nutopia", and displays the same fear of wasting your life,
of not achieving anything, that has fuelled the works of Trent Reznor, Alec
Empire and Raymond Watts. Only a bit more cheerful. The absolutely
incredible "Heavy Scene" sounds like something from Mark Stewart's "Control
Data" album - a deep, funky bass line, squeaking synths and cool dub echoes
- but minus the paranoia and plus a healty dose of sexiness.
The opening track "Thing" is equally fabulous. It's kickstarted by a fuzzy
drum loop and has an amazing chorus, where Meg shouts a distorted "Helter
skelter/Where's your shelter?". In the duet "Deeper" Jennie Bellestar from
The Bellestars adds a cool, poisonous touch.
"London" shows a calmer side, opening with a sad piano and evolving into a
slow hip hop beat and sad harmonies. "Sweet Thing" is a hallucinatory track
about the agonies of bad nights out, featuring the spoken word of Mel
Palmer.
The only real flaw is the ending Subgenius mix of "Swallowing You", which is
stretched out to over ten tedious minutes. Still, in a more fair world Meg
Lee Chin would sell tons of records. She's funky, she's noisy, she's poppy.
And she definitely kicks ass.
KRISTOFFER NOHEDEN