* En anglais uniquement
Responsible for some of the sweetest and, unfortunately, most overlooked indie rock of the '90s, New York City's
Madder Rose featured guitarist
Billy Coté, drummer Johnny Kick, bassist
Matt Verta-Ray, and guitarist/vocalist
Mary Lorson. Their lovely 1993 debut album,
Bring It Down, introduced the band's winning combination of
Lorson's dulcet voice and
Coté and
Lorson's eloquent songs; while it was a critical success, that album and its equally graceful 1994 follow-up,
Panic On, both eluded commercial success. The group returned in 1997 with the trip-hop-inspired Tragic Magic and issued the like-minded
Hello June Fool two years later. It was the swan song for the group, but not for
Coté and
Lorson's collaboration, as each contributed to the other's subsequent projects:
Lorson developed
Saint Low and
Coté formed
the Jazz Cannon. In 2003
Coté and
Lorson also released an album of their other work together, Piano Creeps. ~ Heather Phares