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The Capricorns - In the Zone (2001)

Artist: The Capricorns

Author: Sarah

Date: 01/18/2024

Listen: YouTube

I don't even remember how I first came across this album anymore, but it quickly wormed its way into my head, and then into my heart. Despite the simplicity of its concept (two women, two Casio keyboards, and some beats that I think are pre-programmed. And yet, it still manages to sound unlike anything else I've ever heard! The most impressive thing of all is that it doesn't even get stale over its runtime; there are fast songs, there are slow songs, there are fast songs that feel like slow songs, and that variety prevents it from feeling like you've been listening to the exact same Casio keyboard for 45 minutes.

It's hard for me to talk about their singing without comparing it to Sleater-Kinney. They're not as good of singers, of course, but some of the phrasing wouldn't be out of place on something like Dig Me Out. And, far from what you'd expect, the Casio keyboard sound is surprisingly versatile; the swirling up-tempo playing on "The New Sound" and the repetitive staccato riff on "The Longest Drive", to name two, are equally effective (the latter's got an interesting thing going on where if you listen to the percussion, it's fast, but if you listen to Kirsten's vocals, it's slow, which really fits with the grief expressed in the lyrics imo).

But the thing that appeals to me most about this album is that it sits in a weird timeframe where I can think both "I am rediscovering this incredible lost album from 20 years ago" and "I was alive when this was released, it's recent enough that I can feel like it's almost contemporary to me," which is the perfect spot for slightly obsessive fandom. It's not an emotionally important album for me, it's just a great collection of songs (that I really want everyone I know to listen to), but at the same time, if I were 10 years older, I'm sure this album would have been very important for hypothetical early-00s teenage me.