NOVEMBER 2009 ONLINE EDITORIALS

The Informants - Crime Scene Queen

album cover

By Erik Myers

At times throughout its duration, Crime Scene Queen, the second full-length of Denver’s The Informants, is emblematic of a time in American history when people lived en masse in tent communes and crowded soup kitchens, condemned to poverty by the selfish decisions of a few.
In 2009, we’re not exactly eating rocks, but the mood is familiar. So, The Informants have come around at an appropriate time for us.
The album is a shrewd mix of swing and blues, a sunburn 50s California sound. But given jazz trumpets and the croon of lead Kerry Pastine, there’s an underlying hint of those blackened thirties.
The title track opener is husky, rich with a Bobbie & Clyde kind of desperation, while “Please Mr. Jailer” features croaking brass on an after-the-fact ballad that’d be bleating out of jukeboxes if they’d be around back then. It’s especially incredible. “Don’t Talk Betty” introduces the more sassy hard-lined side of this album, on a level with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.
Perhaps it’s the tracks featuring backing vocals that truly show off the group’s versatility; its unexpected gospel singers on “Salvation” and a hardy swing chorale on “Get Twisted.”
Their last album was praised by everyone from The Loveland Reporter-Herald to Westword¸ so consider the fact that their sophomore release is anything but a slump a sign that this is a group on the up.
www.theinformantsband.com