Zoe Ko Grits Her Newfound Sound in 'Baby Teeth'
If you were fated to roll a boulder to the top of a hill, only to have it roll back again, you might be the subject matter of Greek mythology or have the endless persistence of now-LA resident Zoe Ko. Despite having a couture versus prêt-á-porter frame, nothing about Ko is lightweight; she channels Iggy Pop energy over her thrifted, draped aesthetic, a rummaging sound that builds into closed-fisted grit. While she once composed with “Holly Humbestone-esque” influences, of late she churns out cathartic tunes with a sonic grimace, teeth-barring realism pooled into shots of melodic anxiety that grips you into happy convulsions, a proper post-punk pivot.
On her latest EP, Baby Teeth, Ko, along with her co-writer and producer Jonny Shorr, took an X-ray to her past and drilled down to the emotive root, and the deep exhaling, loudness of the project cements the fact that this was an excellent choice. Baby Teeth, as an EP, is a symbolic Pietri dish, a new culture of sounds and emotional moments (like saved baby teeth) that evolved away from the “lovesick in public” persona of her past work.
Beginning with the namesake single, "Baby Teeth," the new gene pool of composition is immediately evident—tightly-wound lyrics sung with scratchy angst that unwinds loudly on more melodic-paced choruses surge forth. On the metaphorically apropos single "Pietri Dish," Ko dives into the new rock range flared with pop elements. Wide open hi-hats on the chorus of throaty “la las,” wet drums over the verses with a bumpy bass line, and a wave of honest realism in self-assessment lyrically drape the track.
On "Pink Noise," the prom queen gone bad ethos prevails, a feminism kinked with ruined expectations has anthemic stylings, buttressed by a loudly proud all-female choral harmony. The fresh track of the EP, "Tangerine" is a personal favorite, a full of gumption effort, a brief intense song that builds with pulsing drums into a wall of guitars on a pre-chorus that crescendoes further into a huge chorus with more girl squad support than ever before.
Baby Teeth gracefully ends on a beautiful note in the quiet restraint of "Rib Cage," a song that mirrors the depth of the EP, but cast in a radio-friendly format that would have been a predictable smash twenty years ago. "Rib Cage" is a wonderful song to end on as it takes the myriad of songwriting abrasions of the former records and builds a wonderful statement to Ko’s talent in one track. It is a talent that this EP cements like a cavity filling, a stylish reminder of what perceiving though pain can be, making your teeth and your grin that much brighter.
Listen to Baby Teeth below:
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