Patrice Pike

Unraveling (Tape Slap)

Unraveling? Untangled, maybe. United definitely. Unflinching, unabashed, unconditional – all. Austin’s Supernova delivers her best solo album fresh off prime time. Best not to linger on the local mainstay’s lyrics, whose musician class sass can’t quite achieve the everyday profundity in which they rummage. “Beautiful Thing” opens as case in point, its riffs the final word. Bridges too are a problem beginning with the title track. Patrice Pike’s saving grace, then, is the ease and confidence with which she imbues a groove like “Rufus.” The sultry tempo of “New Cool,” low-slung guitar running the lights, preps the openly Bill Withers “What’s the Trouble.” A lilting piano on “Pressure and Heat” makes for candlelight next, and “We Never Lie” agrees. Lean at 10 songs in 42 minutes and beautifully ordered – all songs written by Pike – Unraveling lacks only a million-dollar budget and a weekly network slot.

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This article appears in November 24 • 2006.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.