When members of the San Antonio punk-rock trio, Girl In a Coma, met in junior high school, they discovered that they all liked similar bands, including The Smiths and Nirvana. It may be no surprise then, that when they started making music, the band took their name from one of The Smiths’ songs, “Girlfriend in a Coma.”
While the group is signed to the same record label as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Endless Bummer and The Cute Lepers, if one were to describe Girl In a Coma’s sound, it might be as a good mixture of She & Him and June Carter with a sprinkling of rock.
The album opens up with “Adjust,” a tune that resembles a roller coaster with Nina Diaz’s high vocals and guitars, fluctuating along with soft vocals.
In another song, “Smart,” both the guitars and Diaz’s voice have been toned down. The song also carries on with the motif of love that pervades much of the rest of the album: “I’ve never felt a rush like this, / and do you ever start to wonder / what’s it like to be alone. / Sit and stare and ponder, / living life that’s not your own. / Let’s watch tomorrow go.”
At certain times during the album, Diaz’s voice could easily be compared to Gwen Stefani during her “No Doubt” days. Like Stefani’s, Diaz’s voice stands out, especially when hitting and holding high notes.
While most of the songs start out with a slower beat and quickly pick up toward the middle and end of the track, “She Had a Plan” starts out like the rest of the album, but later transitions into shrieking and screaming.
This emotional build leads to some intense lyrics: “Sit there in your corner / and wish it was the end, / but listen here my friend. / This story never starts / until you break your heart.” The song also includes occasional “ha’s” between verses that gives it a bit of a wicked feel.
While the tracks differ in their rhythms and beats, one of the album’s flaws may be its lack of lyrical diversity. Although the words are somewhat catchy and easy to remember, sometimes it seems as if the rhythm could be enhanced with stronger lyrics, rather than simple and repetitive ones.
“Mother’s Lullaby,” one of the best songs on the album, starts with “There’s a story that I meant to tell you / how you came to me and how I helped you / How you smiled the very first day / How you made my life in every way.” The song could be describing a relationship between a mother and daughter that somehow took a turn for the worse.
Overall, “Exits & All The Rest” is an album revolving around a myriad of emotions running through a woman’s mind, although it also seems like a compilation of mental confessions. While the album contains minor lyrical flaws in some of the tracks, its overall content is not like “all the rest.”
““ Marjorie Yan
Email Yan at myan@media.ucla.edu.