Dorks And Losers

Cana­dian punk rocker Bif Naked (her real name is Beth Tor­bert) has been record­ing for over ten years. She is a huge hit over in Canada, but has yet to match that pop­u­lar­ity in the U.S. With Super­beau­ti­ful­monster, Bif crafts a pleas­ant mix of pop, punk and rock while never stray­ing too far to either. Metal seems to be a big influ­ence on Bif as well. Her “Lady­bug Waltz” is slow and aggres­sive with its anthem-like cho­rus and dark mood. She even does a cover of Metallica’s “Noth­ing Else Mat­ters;” the gloom is still there, but Bif’s less harsh voice can’t match the more tra­di­tional metal growl of James Hetfield.

Bif’s voice makes her music spe­cial. Her voice has the feel­ing of a soft inno­cence that is always try­ing to dis­cover some­thing new and dif­fer­ent. The album’s open­ing track “Aban­don­ment” expresses that naïveté with youth­ful won­der and ado­les­cent anger. Bif knows how to use her voice, which is geared more toward pop music but the rock side of her won’t let her go to that side. Songs like “Every­day” and “Henry” show­case her abil­ity to sing ballad-type pop songs. Songs like “That’s Life” and “Funeral Of A Good Girl” high­light her touch to carry pop melodies.

But Bif leans toward punk with the sex­ual overt­ness of “Yeah, You” and with the infec­tious gui­tar rhythms of “Let Down.” Although I’m not set on label­ing Bif Naked to any genre since her music fits, yet doesn’t fit, so many gen­res. Her melodies can be iden­ti­fied as pop, but the moods that she cre­ates and themes that she con­veys are much more. Bif Naked is tal­ented, and Super­beau­ti­ful­monster hints at what she is capa­ble of.

[photo via Point Spreads]
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Track list:

1. Aban­don­ment
2. Let Down
3. Every­day
4. Yeah, You
5. That’s You
6. Noth­ing Else Mat­ters
7. I Want
8. Funeral Of A Good Grrl
9. Henry
10. The World Is Over
11. The Ques­tion Song
12. Lady­bug Waltz
13. After A While

Pop­u­lar­ity: 2% [?]