Performer Notes

Personnel: Maximilian Turnbull (vocals, guitar); Basia Bulat (vocals, keyboards); James Bailey, Jennifer Castle, Sean Maclean, Amanda Crist, Kassie Richardson (vocals); Chris Sandes (guitar, vocoder, percussion); Doc Dunn (guitar, vibraphone, drum machine); Michael Rault (guitar); Brodie West, Dennis Passley (saxophone); Emily Denison (trumpet); Jonathan Adjemian (piano, organ, synthesizer); Mike Smith (Clavinet, synthesizer); Rich Morel (keyboards, programming); Kieran Adams (drums); Steve Chahley, Brandon Valdivia (percussion); Louis Percival, Tony Price (programming).
Audio Mixer: Steve Chahley.
On 2015's Half Free, U.S. Girls' Meg Remy combined some of the project's earlier tape loop experimentation and use of samples with the more polished avant pop of its previous album, GEM. Three years later, she returns with yet a different approach, collaborating with improvisational music collective the Cosmic Range for a dedicated live sound that lives and breathes like a festival stage. (U.S. Girls) In a Poem Unlimited features a six-piece core version of the Toronto funk-fusion band -- one of whom is Remy's husband and frequent collaborator Maximilian Turnbull, aka Slim Twig -- along with over a dozen additional guests. Those guests include keyboardist/programmer Rich Morel, who accompanies Remy alone on two of the songs, "Rosebud" and "Poem," which he also co-wrote. They provide a synth-poppy breather about a third and two-thirds of the way through the track list, at the same time further expanding the album's sound. So, too, do a pair of brief spoken word recordings, also balanced in the sequencing. At the other extreme, the jammiest song in the set is certainly the closer, a cover of Micah Blue Smaldone's "Time." At seven and a half minutes, it's by far the record's longest track, seeming to celebrate the collaboration in encore style, with prominent bongos and saxophones among instruments that add to the Cosmic Range's more regularly featured rhythm section, synths, and guitars. Far from an afterthought, the album's lyrics speak candidly on topics like sexism and violence -- domestic, terrorist, and state-sanctioned -- such as on "M.A.H." ("Mad as Hell"), which addresses the latter via an arty disco. Sprawling and complex as In a Poem Unlimited's structures and styles are, it's U.S. Girls' most immediate collection to date, in terms of both sound and message. ~ Marcy Donelson

Professional Reviews

Spin - "The lite sophisti-pop of 'Rosebud' goes down the easiest; fittingly, it's paired with a lyric about the unexamined emotional life."

NME (Magazine) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] woozy, hypnotic album that's rooted in electronica and dreamy, jazzy interludes, but also manages to encompass disco, funk, soul, dub, trip-hop, art-pop, noise-rock, industrial and quite a lot of ABBA."

Paste (magazine) - "Throughout, there's a dynamic contrast of ultra-femininity with talk of violence, power, and crouching wrath."

Clash (Magazine) - "The result is something so rich, organic and kinetic that it makes for an unforgettable listen."

Album: In A Poem Unlimited
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Velvet 4 Sale	More Info...
2)	Rage of Plastics	More Info...
3)	Mad As Hell	More Info...
4)	Why Do I Lose My Voice When I Have Something to Say	More Info...
5)	Rosebud	More Info...
6)	Incidental Boogie	More Info...
7)	L-over	More Info...
8)	Pearly Gates	More Info...
9)	Poem	More Info...
10)	Traviata	More Info...
11)	Time	More Info...

Album: In A Poem Unlimited
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Velvet 4 Sale	More Info...
2)	Rage of Plastics	More Info...
3)	Mad As Hell	More Info...
4)	Why Do I Lose My Voice When I Have Something to Say	More Info...
5)	Rosebud	More Info...
6)	Incidental Boogie	More Info...
7)	L-over	More Info...
8)	Pearly Gates	More Info...
9)	Poem	More Info...
10)	Traviata	More Info...
11)	Time	More Info...