MY FEVER BROKE

'My Fever Broke' may have been intended as a promo EP by the band's new label, Instinct Records. This was an awkward period for the band, having been dropped by Columbia Records following a couple of tepidly-received studio albums and a last-ditch promotional effort that consisted of sort of goth/industrial club remixes of some of the band's tunes by none other than Marilyn Manson. You can't make this stuff up.

Unfortunately for Melora Creager and Rasputina, Instinct didn't seem to be any better a fit for them than Columbia. Instinct is better known as a rave and techno label. They're probably best known for launching recording careers for the likes of Moby and Cabaret Voltaire. Not exactly the right place for a trio of slightly pretentious cellists dolled up in 19th century underwear and cranking out tortured acoustic folk tales of wanderlust, small-town Americanitis, and the occasional random pop cover twisted beyond recognition.

I suppose Creager was just trying to make a living, but the stuff on this disc isn't all that great and certainly doesn't rank among the band's better work. Like "Transylvania Regurgitations", an earlier promo EP issued by Columbia, this one consists of several remixes from the band's most recent studio album, in this case 2002's 'Cabin Fever!'.

First up is "At the State Fair with a White Trash Sucker" (aka "State Fair"), a creepy tale about a country girl with big dreams and a crush of convenience on the local pig farmer's kid and apparently a little history with bad relationships. Anyway that's not important, nor is this song in my opinion. It was a mildly charming tune in its original form and one that showed Creager working through the process of defining her band's sound and style, but is not memorable otherwise. In addition to the opening track version, this same song is repeated in 'tweaker' and 'tweaker ambient' remxes, the latter being somewhat distinguished by a short acoustic interlude midway through the song. Otherwise these are nothing more than studio redubs of the same song that I suppose the label hoped would get some house play in alternative clubs of the day. I don't think that probably happened.

Another pair of remixes are "Sweetwaterkill" and "Deep in the SweetWater" (like 'State Fair' the same song with different titles), also originally from "Cabin Fever!" and once again the programmed drum rhythm and techno wizardry is slightly impressive from a technical standpoint, but is not the right stuff for this music and has the same ultimate effect as pouring ketchup on a juicy plate of grilled ribs (for those not familiar - it ruins them).

"Antiquehighheelreddollshoes" is added verbatim from "Cabin Fever!" more as filler than anything else since there's not even an attempt to remix or remaster it.

The only thing really of interest here is the Belle & Sebastian cover "The Fox in the Snow". This is pure indie pop but is the closest Creager comes during her Insitnct days to delivering something that represents the indie folk heart of this band. If only this CD had more like it.

Finally there is a short JPEG video from a live show at New York City's Knitting Factory, filmed I assume during the promotional tour for 'Cabin Fever!'. The one thing worth noting is that nobody in the band or the audience seem to be enjoying themselves (either that or they all take themselves way to seriously).

So if you haven't figured it out by now this one is for collectors only. Tow stars is the best I can manage. If I remember right I think this may have been one of the first promo CDs I ever received, and I promptly forgot about the band for another three or four years until Creager started putting out stuff on her own label. I'd suggest you forget this EP as well and either check out the band's first two albums on Columbia, or the self-produced work after 2005. This one ain't that good.

peace