First Impressions: Nocturnes: Redux by Uh Huh Her

For those who don’t pay attention to crazes, indie sleaze was all the rage from the mid-naughts through the mid-teens. On the fashion front, it repurposed the clothes and styles of the 1970s, ‘80s, and grunge, with its hipster practitioners donning skinny jeans and striped shirts—or, and this is just my spin, whatever American Apparel had on sale that week. The Wikipedia page quotes NME’s El Hunt as calling it “chaotic spontaneity,” but “the barista look” is likely a better fit, as that’s how most of us outside the demographic knew it. At the same time, a music subculture born from blogs and Pitchfork bloomed, accented by such bands as the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Radiohead, Vampire Weekend, and the Strokes.

Uh Huh Her, a duo comprised of Camila Grey (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Leisha Hailey (backing vocals, bass, keyboards) and a slew of side personnel, never got to that level, obviously, but they were a key player. Previously, Grey had played supporting roles for such artists as Dr. Dre and Kelly Osbourne, while Hailey—who’d been half of the Murmurs (you may remember their non-hit hit “You Suck” from the mid-‘90s)—was busy starring in The L Word. They met in 2006, named themselves after a PJ Harvey album, released an EP shortly thereafter, and released cool music for the next decade. Nocturnes: Redux isn’t a new album, however, but Tchad Blake’s original mix of their independently released sophomore set from 2011 that’s been paired with two new tracks: the moody “Shook” and a gritty (and riveting) cover of Sonic Youth’s “Kool Thing.”

I’m admittedly unfamiliar with the original work, having played it a handful of times in the past month, but I hear Redux not as a flashback to my mid-40s—my age when the album was released—but to 40-ish years ago, when I was in my late teens and early 20s. That may be unfair, but it sports the keyboard whooshes, staccato guitars, and steady beats (sans sterile gated reverb) that accented the heady pop-rock of the mid-’80s. The moody “Debris” is likely the best known of the album’s tracks, but other standouts include “Time Stands Still” and “Human Nature,” both of  which conjure Cyndi Lauper. On other songs, such as “Criminal” and “Marstorm,” the pair come across as a scruffier Bangles.

It’s an infectious collection of songs, in other words. Highly recommended.