The Music Box: Lissy Trullie’s “Self-Taught Learner”

Track Listing:

1. Boy Boy
2. She Said
3. Self-Taught Learner
4. Money
5. Forget About It
6. Ready For The Floor (Hot Chips Cover)
7. Don’t To Do
8. Hold Your Head
9. You Bleed You
10. Just A Friend (Biz Markie Cover)

Release Date: 2/17/2009

The Band: Elizabeth McChesney used to be a model and a solo artist but has since stepped out of the camera’s eye and now shares a stage with Josh Elrod, Eben D’Amico, and Ian Fenger.  The quartet kept McChesney’s better known stage name as its own…Lissy Trullie and has struck Indie-Pop oil with its debut Self-Taught Learner.

The Review: Lissy Trullie’s Self Taught Learner is a strong debut effort with an abundance of Indie-Pop originals that depict a life full of lost love and heart break from which this former New York Model, turned Queen of Indie Rock Hipsters, has survived and lived to jam about.

Do not be fooled by the label Indie-Pop, because you won’t be receiving any syrupy gum drops and butterfly kisses from Ms. Trullie.  The choruses are melodious but hollow and eerie.  The instrumental hooks sink in deep but are raw and crude.

Lissy Trullie believes firmly in simplicity and the final product is a blast from the past, but at the same time, it fits just right in the present.  The saying “What once was old is new again” can be tacked upon this album.  It rests upon the spot where The Velvet Underground and The Strokes throw hands.

The album starts off in an unimpressive fashion with “Boy Boy,” essentially a verbal thrashing handed down from Trullie to a Joe Bro that did her wrong.  I almost let that discourage me from taking the rest of this album seriously but didn’t, and neither should you.

Following the opening misstep is a string of catchy Indie-Rock gold, including a cover of Hot Chips’ “Ready For The Floor,” that showcases Trullie’s gloomy baritone pipe-work dished out over the band’s upbeat instrumentals, and climaxing at the zenith of this pile of hits with the absolute cream of the crop “Forget About It.”

“Forget About It” tells the tale of a strong, independent, woman who has experienced so much heart break that now she expects nothing more to come of a relationship and claims to be unfazed by the inevitable breakup that will ensue with every new guy.  However, by the end of the song, she comes to the realization that old scars hurt just the same when the wound is reopened.  Who would have thought such a morbid song could be so catchy.  There’s sort of a Third Eye Blind complex occurring with most of the tracks on the album including this one.

And did I mention the cover of Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” that closes out this barrel of snakes?  Trullie and company, with the assistance of Indie-Rock royalty Adam Green, break down the rapper’s 20-year old hit single and build it back up into something sludgy, something that twists the ventricles, something wonderful.  I can’t think of a better send off to such a solid collection of music.

Album Rating: & & & & &

“Forget About It”

“Just A Friend”