Why it Rocks to be a Girl

Making important, artistic rock albums isn’t just a pastime for the guys

By Paige Thomas

As a woman entrenched in the music scene, I hold a very special place in my heart for women who have been able to break through a typically male-dominated industry and make some noise people really care about. Sometimes female rock stars can seem too few and far between, but this season the women are taking center stage with a slew of strong and independent creative visions, proving that you don’t have to be a sugary-sweet pop diva to be successful.
 
The first, and maybe most obvious, example of this phenomenon is Amy Winehouse. If you haven’t heard anything from her, you must’ve been living on the moon. The unique retro sounds of her 2006 album “Back to Black” have brought both financial success and artistic accolades aplenty to the jazzy, soulful singer from across the pond. The album is a throwback to the ‘50s and ‘60s girl group sound, while the songs themselves take on modern topics like booze and rehab.
 
Whether or not you like Winehouse, what’s great about her is that she doesn’t succumb to any musical stereotypes. She’s made an album that is creatively (and musically) truly her own.
 
Hailing from Canada, Feist is another female artist expressing her own vision. She’s been slowly elbowing her way into the mainstream with her joyous pop songs that have recently been finding a lot of commercial success. Literally. Songs off of Feist’s latest album, “The Reminder,” have appeared in all sorts of commercials, including a spot for Apple’s iPod nano.   
 
Despite this seemingly newfound fame, Feist has been around for a long time. Before really breaking through in her own right, she lent her voice to various Broken Social Scene albums, as well as to numerous collaborations, including appearing on female electro-shock rocker Peaches’ album “The Teaches of Peaches,” and the last Kings of Convenience album “Riot On An Empty Street.” This eclectic background of work seeps through into her creative process and onto her latest album.
 
The album swoops back and forth between vulnerable Sarah McLachlan-esque ballads and upbeat pop anthems. Her wide musical range makes the album consistently interesting to listen to throughout. People who buy the album hoping for more of what her singles such as “1234” and “My Moon My Man” offer may be disappointed by the divergence of tempos and sounds that makes up the rest of “The Reminder.”
 
Another independent songstress, Bat for Lashes (a.k.a. Natasha Kahn) is the more experimental (and probably least accessible) of the three women. The songs from her album “Fur and Gold” are complex, with cascading and constantly changing beats and movements.
 
Like Feist, the Bat for Lashes album runs the gamut of tempos and sounds, constantly challenging the listener’s ear to keep up. There are bowed saws, harpsichords and tambourines fluttering in and out of play, weaving a dense musical tapestry.  Her vocals have a flair for the dramatic, creating enigmatic musical scenes for all of her songs.

Compared to other artists like Bjork, CocoRosie, Tori Amos and Joanna Newsome (who are, by the way, very rockin’ female artists as well), Bat For Lashes is one part film noir, one part magical black forest, and two parts never-ending mystery. At university, Kahn studied performance art, and the album seems an extension of this artistic background, her innate creativity manifesting itself as its own bold canvas in musical format. Stirring fantastic imagery with her music, one feels like they could close their eyes and drift off into another reality.  
 
Always concerned with the state of female rock-dom, I’m thrilled to know that there are women out there pushing boundaries and creating work that I’m excited about. So while the boys may still rule (for now), the girls are starting to give them a run for their money.