by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Even with a ten year absence, Marnie Stern's name remained stuck in the minds of modern rock fans. With a mention of Stern comes her always incredible guitar technique that she never used to show-off, but always played with a purpose, accentuating what she is trying to say both musically and lyrically with her songs. Ten years on after her previous full album, she’s back with another incredible offering, aptly titled The Comeback Kid. It is not just back to true form for Stern, it is an album where she tries and succeeds to push herself forward, without sacrificing her musical sense of purpose.
“This record is about reassuring yourself that happiness is not about what kind of things you have or how many things you have or what you don’t have—it’s about all the good things you do,” says Stern. The moment “Plain Speak” opens the album, there seems to be no let down here - Stern's guitar technique appears to be taken at least three steps forward, but, again, while it shines, it never goes overboard or slips out of the song or what Stern is really trying to say. At the same time, as heard on “Oh Are They,” she’s always taking another step into an angular, left-field direction, while keeping the full balance of her music.
Stern simultaneously pushes her lyrics a few steps forward, as in “Believing Is Seeing” where she sings "This place is code. I can’t hear you. / This place is cold. Ice is on the ground. / As you draw a map inside the back of your mind / You will find us in the sky. Chasing cyclones swirling by". It all seems to work so well together, that you keep on asking - what happened in the last ten years? As one of the songs' titles here goes - it is all in the working memory.