Taking their name from the 1950s film adapted from Fredric Brown's novel of the same title, you could be forgiven for thinking that Screaming Mimi were almost too good to be true. Fronted by the über-glamorous and noir-ish Loretta Chantry, a semi-wailing hybrid of Kate Bush and Deborah Harry, dressed in period ball gowns and high heels, and backed up by four sharply suited guys, the Good Sons to Nick Cave's Bad Seeds. You should have got the picture by now - but if not try imagining that the Pixies had ditched Frank Black in favour of a sultry purring female lead. In many ways the current Phantom Power single, "Dorothy Millette", is the perfect pop single: beautiful, hook-laden and infectious, but infused with a subversive undercurrent of darkness. Catch them live and you'll find twisty haunting 60s spy theme tunes, surf guitars, brisk country beats, theremins and whirlwind clap-a-longs all performed to a backdrop of their favourite 50s mystery-murder flicks. No, Screaming Mimi aren't a figment of our imaginations. Screaming Mimi are very much a reality and, as one musical journalist so succinctly put it, are "what every great British post-millennial guitar band should be". |
