How do you explain what Charming Disaster’s Our Lady Of Radium does to your senses with an auditory experience? Like Thomas Dolby, the Brooklyn duo’s just-dropped release blinds us with sheer brilliance.
The nine songs weave a tale of Madame Curie as told through the imagination of songwriters Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. The tales of the radium girls hang from the opening refrain of “Bad Luck Hard Rock” to “Forces of “Nature.” This is Gothic folk finery at its minimalist best. This is a post-pandemic force!
For many of us, Charming Disaster’s Quarantine Livestream was a refuge against evil. “Elemental” may be the greatest nod to that state of escape, simple and sweet. The album’s homage to Curie and medium Pierre becomes palpable, like the partnership between Bisker and Morris: Authentic angst and rich harmonic theatrics. “Eat Drink Sleep” defies all reason, a waltz of frenzied moments and sonic magic with frogs. It’s perfect, and certainly my new springtime favorite. “Darkened Room” whirls its way towards the end of the record. Surreal sonic textures paint “Radium Girls” with the vibrancy of the Mona Lisa.
To say “Glow About Her” feels dark highlights the skilled juxtaposition that the songwriters of Charming Disaster are capable of. Arranged in a lyrical give and take of circular truths, Bisker’s soaring soprano and Morris’ steady alto/tenor ground the tune. Closing out with the title track, “Our Lady Of Radium” shows how important restraint is in storytelling. Now, please invite me to the Off-Broadway opening! Charming Disaster’s Our Lady of Radium is out now. — Lisa Whealy