Miss Murgatroid and Petra Haden - Hearts and Daggers

Albums

It’s been nine years since Bella Neurox, the last collaboration between violin virtuoso Petra Haden and accordionist Miss Murgatroid (a.k.a. Alicia J. Rose). In that time, Haden suffered a car wreck, wound up in a coma, and was the beneficiary of a series of star-studded aid concerts. Now, with the help of an anonymous benefactor, she’s finally reunited with buddy Rose for Hearts & Daggers. Not discounting Haden’s misfortunate, the duo can take comfort in the fact that during all that time, there was never much danger of another violin/accordion combo coming along to supplant them. It’s a niche they pretty much have locked up.

It helps that Rose and Haden exist so firmly in world of their own, stuffed with Baroque dramas and pirate queens and quaint Italian boat rides. Their versatility and inventiveness allow them to conjure up nearly anything they fancy, with Haden’s strings flowing from Hitchcockian staccato to an autumnal richness those indie rock amateurs can only dream about. Rose’s accordion is harder to pin down, sometimes conjuring up a good-hearted ethnic European soup, sometimes a witchier brew. Topping it all off are the vocals, seamless but surprisingly poppy, like a girl group gone medieval.

Two of the tracks experiment with beats, always a risky proposition, and “Another Day,” in particular, comes closest to ambient, Robert Miles-style movie-soundtrack nonsense. It isn’t necessarily a no-no, but with so much other raw ore to work with, Rose and Haden shouldn’t risk getting lost in the electronic muddle.

Label: Label Under: Music
Release Date: 8-19-08

-Claire Shefchik