A Moody, Romantic Cd

Mon., April 26, 1999

Erin Haick Jenkins

Placebo “Without You I’m Nothing”

Placebo, the latest export from the UK, where its first album went gold, is now attempting to capture the fickle hearts and radio waves of America.

With music that combines provocative, attention-grabbing lyrics with gyrating rhythms and melodies, the music is as brash as the lyrics are assertive.

“Without You I’m Nothing” opens with a bang in “Pure Morning” a song extolling the virtues of friends in need and friends with weed. The thick bassline and drums provide a strong foundation from which singer/songwriter Brian Molko can base his crazed, nasal vocal couplets.

The band’s dark, moody songs are filled with contradictions and dynamic shifts, with abrasive guitar riffs leading into sparser, softer moments. Likewise, gender-bending frontman Molko’s distinctive whine can sound either defiant or vulnerable.

Lyrically, the band moves past the come-ons of its 1996 self-titled debut to offer more introspective reflections on drug addiction and relationship troubles.

If Placebo has an Achilles’ heel, it’s Molko’s desire to rhyme every two lines. This can be effective in adding rhythm to a song, but the style sometimes gets annoying when Molko’s rhymes become forced.

Moody and romantic, aggressive but not hostile, “Without You I’m Nothing” is a sonic catharsis, bringing you into the dark eye of the storm and allowing you to peak at the sun as it slowly burns through the dark clouds.

Grade: A-

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