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"The Harmony Rocket" Gemma Sighs, clearly in love "is a life changing
guitar." It's got the most amazing pickups. this very instrument was
recently cradled, plucked and shaken by her before being dropped
against an amp in a feedback finale at a Mojo sponsored show at
London's Union Chapel Church. "It just sounds so great when you beat
the fuck out of it." She breams. "But I know I cant because I've got
other gigs to do. I have to be restrained."
On wondrous new album "Lights Out Zoltar!" Ray shows restraint by
"squeezing all my ideas into a three minute pop song. Being honest a 10
minute indulgent wig out is my default position." The ideas include
50's pop, country, blues, 60's girl-group dramarama and latin/lounge
exotica, all with a steely modern resolve making Essex raised Ray a
true alternative to the wan psych-folk of today's lady-pop troupe.
A stroll in the National Gallery reveals her as a sharp dresser and
a sharper thinker with minor OCD tendencies ("If I don't look at that
painting once more, I'm disrespecting the painter"). Gemma Ray recalls her childhood fascination with dinosaurs and
making robots out of magnets. "But then songs become a vehicle for your
obsessions." Alienated in Essex, she found allies who turned
demountables from haulage vehicles into a rehearsal space, wired upto a
car mechanics workshop for power. "We practically lived in those rooms"
she recalls. "That's where I discovered music, drugs (laughs), and
learned how to play guitar backwards. It was all quite Sonic Youth and
experimental. "She has a rocking P.J. Harvey band phase as Gemma Ray
Ritual, selling handmade CD's at gigs before admitting she was solo by
nature and 'vintage' was her true voice. "I love the restraint of '50's
music. Even when it broke into Rock n Roll. It's still concise pop
songs." she declares. "Different eras appeal to me, but when it gets to
1975 nothing much appeals to me in terms of style and sound."
"Lights Out Zoltar!" which followed 2008's official debut "The
Leader", is named after the fortune teller in Victorian arcade
machines. This is her "comic book villain statement against
superstition. If I feel superstitious but science wins out on this
album."
As it did in her own life when, in 2005, she fell ill with chronic
fatigue syndrome. "I was only able to record "Zoltar!" with the help of
hypnosis tapes." she explains, "which became a scientific aid to my
brain, and gave me lots more energy when I needed it. I'd say I'm 80%
better now. I had to find a way round it - I wasn't going to spend my
whole life in my pyjamas."
- Martin Aston 07/09
