Simple Machines Records | Grenadine reviews

Grenadine Reviews

GRENADINE
Fillings 7"
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 284 - May 15, 1992

Grenadine marks the first collaboration between Tsunami's Jenny Toomey and Unrest's Mark Robinson, both strong voices in Washington, DC's ever-fertile underground scene. "Fillings" reveals what's at the heart of Tsunami's aggressive nature - a sweet, woeful voice, here backed by a satiny pillow of guitar plucks and strums. "Gillian" could be an acoustic demo for Unrest's Imperial f.f.r.r., along the lines of "I Do Believe You Are Blushing," with layers of Robinson's vocals frosted over billowy guitar strums.
-Lydia Anderson

GRENADINE
Don't Forget The Halo 7"
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 359 - Nov 29, 1993

DC cocktail supergroup Grenadine is made up of Jenny Toomey (Tsunami), Mark Robinson (Unrest) and Rob Christiansen (Eggs). This beautifully packaged single is their best effort to date. Toomey's murmuring pacing A-side is in a distinctly different vein from her other band, letting her voice stay in its lower register and twine around her and Robinson's guitars. The flip's "777" is a similarly subdued, Unrest-like instrumental workout for two guitars and brushed drums, with an odd five-chord sequence at its core and a well- p laced few seconds of silence midway through. An album is promised for late spring of 1994.
-Douglas Wolk

GRENADINE
Nopalitos CD/LP
From the pages of the CMJ New Music Report, Issue: 404 - Nov 21, 1994

Though we've come to expect a challenge from enigmatic supergroup Grenadine (one part Unrest, one part Tsunami, one part Eggs), the trio has thrown us for yet another loop. Some of the songs on "Napalitos" are unsurprising (some of Mark Robinson's songs have a distinct Unrest flair, while some of Jenny Toomey's have a clear Tsunami ring), but many of the tracks are not as easily traceable. The band's approach to the songs, especially in the barber shop quartet style of "Hell Over Hickory Dew" and the old-school cartoon-y "Roundabout On A Tuesday," has a distinctive 1920's old-timey feel. In addition to the songwriting, the recording techniques distinguish Grenadine from its contemporaries. The songs become progressively stranger with increasingly odd production. Warren Defever has done a fabulous job compounding the bizarre quality of the songs, most noticeably on "Speeding," which is remixed to an almost unrecognizable extent as "Snik" four songs later. It all culminates in the wildly beautiful underwater-like warble of the Burt Bacharach/Herb Alpert cover "This Girl's In Love."
-DAWN SUTTER