Transmit / Receive

Three years after her fine album Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You (which arrived three years after its precursor, Shortly After Take Off), Sally Crewe has returned with an EP that offers five songs in 17 minutes; no one is ever going to accuse Crewe of being wildly prolific, but where she falls short in quantity she does very well indeed in terms of quality. Crewe teamed up with guitarist Doug Gillard (of Guided by Voices and Cobra Verde) for Transmit/Receive, with Gillard anchoring the band and co-writing four of the five songs, and he was clearly a shrewd choice for the band. Gillard's concise but gutsy style works well for these songs, and the melodies have punch and power to go along with their abundant melodic hooks. As a vocalist and lyricist, Crewe remains an unsung treasure of contemporary indie pop. Her voice is smooth and supple but with just enough bite to make her rock & roll swagger fully convincing, and her lyrics are clever and street-smart, and have the ring of truth whether she's offering advice to some misfit kid, bemoaning faulty relationships, or debating the pros and cons of hedonism. Transmit/Receive is tough, tuneful, and thoroughly enjoyable, and this is the sort of pop with muscle and nerve that's in regrettably short supply today; it would be nice if Crewe worked faster, but as long as she makes music this good, it's well worth the wait.