"Put aside your preconceived notions of a chamber-instrument ensemble. Neither aloof nor pretentious, Providence's My Invisible maintains a punk-rock subversiveness while gleefully coloring outside the lines of genre limitations. They're wry changelings, equally at home crafting waltz-time laments as they are writing off-the-cuff paeans to their favorite Detroit Piston. They even have their own cheer.
"Fittingly, its easier to define them by what they arent than by what they are, given that their very name evokes a kind-of absence by design. Neither drawing-room prim or Gothic kitsch (see: Rasputina), their music although not rock by any stretch flirts with the same quiet/loud dichotomy first patented by the Pixies, and to equally stirring effect. Exploiting negative as well as positive space, the band shapes gripping music sometimes out of thin air.
"You can hear it on their self-released debut, My Invisible, but its even more pronounced during their vibrant live show, in which the blend of cello, violin, guitar, Roxy (an antique instrument), pick-up percussion, and intricate harmonies intertwine to create something thats hard to pin down. Searching for influences, one hears echoes of the Slits percussive, ramshackle humor, of This Heats haunting complexity, of Dirty Threes sun-drenched expansiveness. And if that sounds complicated, embodying all sorts of seemingly contradictory impulses is part of My Invisibles considerable charm..." To continue Andrea Feldman's article in The Phoenix, click on "Roxy music."