Johanna's House Of Glamour

Although commonly grouped with the goth rock underground that flourished during the 1980s and 1990s, the Newport, RI, trio Johanna's House of Glamour avoids the cheap nihilism and overused “shock” tactics that dominated much of that milieu. Their work instead deliberately evokes the open-ended, exploratory atmosphere of 1970s progressive rock, especially the whimsical yet enigmatic tone found on mid-decade Virgin Records releases. A respectful, spectral rendition of Robert Wyatt’s “Sea Song,” taken from the 1974 album Rock Bottom, appears on the group’s second full-length. Traces of Wyatt, Slapp Happy—whose chanteuse Dagmar Krause provides a clear vocal parallel for singer Laura Darrow—Mike Oldfield, King Crimson, Curved Air, and Hatfield and the North are filtered through a post-punk sensibility akin to 4AD house band This Mortal Coil, whose adventurous reinterpretations of familiar material constitute the trio’s other chief touchstone, audible most clearly in their treatment of Marc Bolan’s “Cosmic Dancer,” which suggests an outtake from It’ll End in Tears.

Johanna’s House of Glamour coalesced in Newport in 1988 when vocalist Laura Darrow, her brother and guitarist Daniel Darrow, and keyboardist Bruce MacLeod began working together without a conventional rhythm section; MacLeod handled bass synthesizer and drum machine duties while the Darrows contributed hand percussion. Their independently issued 1989 single pairing “Distant Someday” with “What’s So Wrong About the Truth” drew the interest of the modest yet respected Louisiana-based goth label C’Est La Mort, which signed the band and issued the debut album Farewell Street in 1990. The stronger follow-up, 1993’s Style Monsters, gains considerable depth from the arrival of a live rhythm section comprising ex-Throwing Muses and Belly bassist Fred Abong alongside drummer John Orsi. A further single, “Forever Autumn” backed with “Storm Country,” surfaced in 1994. Beyond scattered contributions to ambient-pop and art-rock anthologies, however, the trio issued no additional material. Laura Darrow and MacLeod are credited on several ambient and electronica compilations.