Music
The Garden
The Shondes, 'The Garden'
The Shondes are a woman-dominated Brooklyn band whose mix of riot-grrrl furor, arena bombast and klezmer stomp has earned them a global cult. On their latest, that sound is bigger and brighter than ever. “Who told you to give up/Who told you to give up on the garden?” Louisa Solomon demands, as drums pound and guitars snarl. (Abandon your dreams on this record, and you could get your ass kicked.) Elijah Oberman scrapes hornets and angels from his fiddle, guitarist Fureigh shreds melodically, and harmonies soften the clamor. Some lyrics could use more characters and details, but the sound is too wild to ignore.