Jenny Hoyston: Isle Of : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Jenny Hoyston made one killer guitar record last year with her band, the Bay Area grrrl punks Erase Errata. Although they used to get lumped in with the New Wave revival, Erase Errata cut their own twisted road on Nightlife -- at a recent show in Brooklyn, guitar freaks crowded by the side of the stage just to watch Hoyston's hands move. This solo project is basically a victory lap: Hoyston, who also has sung in Anxious Rats with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, tries a few new rhythmic experiments with her signature spazzy post-punk guitar. She grinds out some math-rock grooves ("Spell D-O-G"), mucks around with engaging low-tech synth pop ("Everyone's Alone") and even strums a surprisingly tough acoustic tune, the four-track bedroom ballad "Break Apart, Reattach." But the strongest moment has to be "Novelist" -- Hoyston murmurs, "I did not die in vain," while her jittery guitar twitches like a nerve on fire.