As singer with The Distillers and Spinnerette, Brody Dalle proved herself to be one of the most charismatic women in alternative rock. In recent times, she has been busy raising a family with her partner, Queens Of The Stage Age head honcho Josh Homme, but the 35-year-old Australian has now gotten around to recording her debut solo album.
A furious blast of punk noise, Diploid harks back to grunge, with Dalle’s vocals uncannily similar to Courtney Love. The likes of ‘Rat Race’, ‘Underworld’ and ‘Don’t Mess With Me’ are all serrated guitars, pounding drums and howled vocals, and although the manic energy excites, the lack of melodic flair swiftly becomes evident. Nirvana, Sonic Youth and, at their best, Hole were always careful to complement their all-out sonic assaults with
memorable tunes, and Diploid unfortunately suffers a dearth of irresistible choruses.
Dalle certainly varies the template, adding touches of electro to ‘Carry On’, getting glitchy and atmospheric on the Radiohead-like ‘Parties For Prostitutes’ and delivering a superb piano ballad – complete with delicate falsetto – on the bittersweet ‘I Don’t Need Your Love’. However, there simply isn’t a track here that has you rushing to listen to it again.
Featuring a few notable guest appearances – Warpaint’s Emily Kokal and Garbage’s Shirley Manson contribute backing vocals to the moody ‘Meet The Foetus/Oh The Joy’, while The Strokes’ Nick Valensi plays guitar on a couple of tracks – Diploid is an admirably attitudinal and spiky record, if not an essential one.