By Kayla Ross
This duo certainly packs a punch in their third studio album Girls, Like Wolves. The combination of Miesha Louie on vocals and guitar with Stuart Bota on drums creates a raucous punk-rock album rife with blazing guitar riffs, resounding lyrics and powerful percussions. Oh, and don’t forget the howling.
This is garage rock at its finest. Every track is fun, loud and strikingly poignant.
Miesha & the Spanks is a Calgary-based project that has seen a substantial amount of success since they formed four years ago. Girls, Like Wolves continues to prove how deserving they are of the attention. Louie’s talent as a lyricist and performer is evident in this release, with every track bristling with energy and ardor. Combined with Bota’s intense, if slightly repetitive, drumming, this kind of music bursts through your speakers. The closing and title track carries the same amount of zeal as the opening number, with a few dips and turns in between. “Song 10” — ironically, the fifth track — is a perfect example of this, with the guitar slowing down to a soothing croon. The pensive lyrics coupled with a more bluesy feel evokes imagery of Louie’s hometown in the mountains of British Columbia.
“Wrecking Ball” and “Look At You (Baby Look At You)” are other notable tracks on the album, though to be quite frank there isn’t a weak song among them. This album encapsulates perfectly what it means to be wild, free and punk rock.
While Louie is certainly a wild one and knows it too, she does well to remind us every now and then that she is still human behind that wolf mask. Her unapologetic, in-your-face attitude is surprisingly charming and will have you howling along with her by the end of the album.