Rhythm & Views

The Rogers Sisters

If you're looking for love, The Invisible Deck would be the wrong place. Tricky, illusory and occasionally entirely opaque, this sophomore collection by sisters and Brooklyn bar owners Jennifer and Laura Rogers, with co-conspirator Miyuki Furtado, is a large helping of garage-drama verite. Its noisy noir punk and grrrl power rock is littered with metal and driven for dancing. Live, you may not know what's hit you, but on a record, it's clear: They're singing your life, and it ain't particularly pretty.

For Deck, the band cranked up the tech to layer the songs for listening. Guitar parts rule; in the six-minute "Your Littlest World," a tirade against small-mindedness, Furtado's distortion is reduced to an electronic buzz, like some sinister insect hectoring the camel walking through Laura Rogers' drums. Heavy metal guitar riffs alternate with simple, girl-punk vocals in "You Undecided," a punk/funk rant on heedlessness and its consequences. The bass and drums take over, though, on "Never Learn to Cry," where agitated percussion and a punishing bass line find memories "laced to the painted lines passing on the ground."

The Sisters' original vision was to be a New York-area party band, but their potent mélange drew critical raves, leading to a deal with the respected indie-label home of Stereolab and Electrelane. Come see what the fuss is about.