ILL EASE is the wonked-out, vitriolic project of Brooklynite Elizabeth Sharp, former drummer with '90s hardcore outfit New Radiant Storm Kings turned acerbic bedroom songsmith extraordinaire. She announced herself with 2003's memorably (mammarably?) titled "Greatest Tits" and - for the follow up "The Exorcist" - she's hooked up with producer (and ex-Sugar bassist) David Barbe and briefly relocated to the rural climes of Athens, Georgia.
Not that the countryside's blunted Sharp's cast-in-concrete wit, as these 9 songs (coming in at an admirable, Pixies-esque 30 minutes) are wired and abrasive, with Liz's so-what drawl delivering well-observed commentaries on a whole manner of dysfunctional relationships en route.
Although usually pretty cynical, some of her observations can be really funny too. She opens "You Know You Make Me Wanna Hate You" with the immortal: "Of all the cars I've had the pleasure to drive, I started the night thinking you'd be a pretty good ride," while on "Junkie Go Home", a hopelessly crap boyfriend gets the verbal slings and arrows ("take your crappy guitar, throw it in your cheap crappy car you could never start"). The invective can go much deeper, though, as on the self-explanatory "You Look Like Hell Tonight" and the dark intensity of "Winter In Hell", where Sharp sings: "I used to just work here, but now I work here and I'm sleeping with the boss." The effect is hollow, lonely and nasty.
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Musically, "The Exorcist" is immediate and hooky. Often the songs are based on simple, bitten-off riffs, and tracks like "Jersey-O-Matic," "You Know You Make Me Wanna Hate You" and "Junkie Go Home" could all be low-rent Breeders in design, with Sharp (who plays virtually all the instruments) rarely straying too far from the original riff blueprint.
There are a few deviations, though, and these are largely intriguing. "The Skank", for instance, swaps the gritty guitar for a nimble dub bassline and electric piano, and - despite a weird, party-obsessed lyric involving "throwing up in the sink" - is quite seductive. "Malfunction Junction," meanwhile, wouldn't be out of place on the Rough Trade Shops Post Punk compilation and the wigged-out PIL-style rhythms of "Walking Catastrophe" also stick in the mind.
Although probably too wilfully strange to grab major cult attention, "The Exorcist" is nevertheless not without its' sugar-coated pop approachability, which - when married to the slightly sinister undertones that persist throughout - ensures you'll want to delve further inside Elizabeth Sharp's keenly cracked mind. Don't call the doctor just yet.
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