The Ettes' Look at Life Again Soon, their second full-length, is one of my favorite albums of 2008. Incorporating the big-beat stomp minimalism of the White Stripes and Ramones, the country-fried attitude of Wanda Jackson, and the raw, sexy power of the Cramps, The Ettes are able to take a blues punk genre becoming staler by the minute and reinvent it in their own image. What really sets this effort apart is not the ever-present thump of drummer Maria “Poni” Silver, or the dark, garage-inspired bass lines by Jeremy “Jem” Cohen. It isn’t even the fuzzy, bluesy guitar work of guitarist/singer Lindsay “Coco” Hames. What makes Look at Life Again Soon really hum is Hames’ brilliant vocal work. For this reviewer, it was love at first listen. Her catty, defiant snarl is just enough to put Hames in the 'punk rock vocalist' category, but the undeniable twang in her delivery will make any listener fall head over heels. With irresistibly flirtatious lines like 'You got your big ideas/They ain’t as big as mine', how can you not? Add these ingredients to tight, power-packed songwriting, and a hit is born. The Ettes, while not forging completely new ground with Look at Life Again Soon, took a dying genre and breathed exuberant, vital life into it.
--Marcus Sacco [September 28, 2008]
