Noisettes - What's The Time Mr. Wolf

With the roar of a lion and the purr of a kitten, Noisettes singer/bassist Shingai Shoniwa has one impressive vocal range. While she’s justifiably garnered the majority of publicity following the release of her band’s first full-length, What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?, her bandmates aren’t just sidemen. Guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison provide the perfect garage blues-punk bed that allows Shoniwa to soar or be gently dramatic, which often happens during the same song. The tracks are all edgy, but they’re versatile enough to still sound fun and soulful. Hints of prog, funk, blues and punk keep the listener on edge as to what’s coming around the next corner to the point the band has almost reinvented what a power trio is capable of. Having recently toured the United States with both Bloc Party and TV on the Radio (they sound like neither), the band is being exposed to a larger and larger audience. Judging from the enticement of Mr. Wolf and the magnetism of the group as a whole, they’ve probably picked up quite a few new fans along the way. [www.thenoisettes.com]