MP3: “Brother”
MP3: “Holy Hell”
With the band Screaming Females, Marissa Paternoster has been known to shred until her fingers bleed. But with her 5-year-old low-profile solo project Noun, Marissa dedicates less time to shrieking and soloing, and more to intricate studio work and lower-key instrumentation.
Holy Hell, the first official Noun release, incorporates keys, organs, and toned-down guitars and drums. The result is clearly different than Screaming Females: it’s mellower, more melodic, and whereas the Screaming Females’ songwriting process is a three-way discussion, Marissa writes all of the songs for Noun.
Similarly to Screaming Females, Marissa’s friends are an important part of Noun. Holy Hell features drum work by Angela Boylan (of Cheeky), Miranda Taylor (Hunchback, Black Wine, Full of Fancy), and Jarrett Dougherty (Screaming Females), plus bass lines by King Mike (Screaming Females). Her Mom designed the artwork, and her friends at New Brunswick label Don Giovanni are releasing the record.
Just as Screaming Females’ signature DIY mindset was born out of necessity (having nowhere to play shows led to booking their own, having no one to release their records led to self-releasing), Marissa’s solo project was also born organically. As a teenager she wanted to be in a band, but couldn’t find people to play with. Instead of waiting to find band-mates, Marissa played all of the instruments herself and recorded her own songs on her father’s laptop.
By the time Marissa started college at Rutgers University, she had around 40 songs recorded. She burned them to CD-Rs and packaged them with Xeroxed artwork. She then passed them around at Rutgers and mailed them to friends. A Noun song on an obscure compilation is even what ultimately led to her meeting Screaming Females drummer Jarrett, which led to the band’s inception.
Holy Hell surfaced naturally over the past year when Marissa began an internship at the Hunt Studio in New Jersey in 2009. She began recording Noun songs in her downtime which eventually evolved into a full length album. The 12-track album drops today (July 6, 2010).
Noun
Holy Hell
(Don Giovanni)
Street date: July 6, 2010
1. Black Lamb
2. Outer Space
3. Old Friends
4. Holy Hell
5. Wrong Things
6. Call Earth
7. Pearly Gates
8. So Rough
9. Brother
10. Talk
NOUN LINKS:
Label Page – http://www.dongiovannirecords.com/
MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/noun