Listening to Red Dahlia is like channel surfing.
In a little more than a half hour, the Athens/Columbus-based band clicks through shades of rock 'n' roll, pop-rock, country, heavy metal and even a piano piece. And although their debut album juggles styles, the musicianship doesn't waver.
From the guitar lick of Forget I Said That introducing the song with a honky-tonk swagger to the brooding you're-being-watched heartbeat of Killjoy
the guitar, drum and synth work carry the seven tracks. Surprises such as the limp guitar solo near the end of Masquerade and the clap-along beat of High School are successfully experimental.
What limits the quality of Red Dahlia's CD is singer Jodi Toledo's lyrics. It's half the way she sings them - sometimes too little, oftentimes too much - and it's half what they're about. Lift the lines from Masquerade and you might as well have Nickelback or Staind: What do you do when you're all alone/ and you can't hate yourself and you're all alone? Do you take it out when you're at home/ just what do you do when you're all alone?
In some cases, the adolescent-poetry thing pays off. Toledo sings the appropriately dubbed High School with the coy demure of a learners-permit backseat make-out session. But when the tracks slow down and Toledo takes the microphone, like on a Fiona Apple-influenced Cold Blue Red Dahlia's dreamy instrumentation just teases you from the background.
Like flipping through the channels, with Red Dahlia you'll find some snippets you'll really like, some that seem slightly interesting and some you can just skip right over.
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Paul Kita
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