Julie Doiron
Woke Myself Up
Endearing, 2007
By Miles Baker
One measure into the first track of Woke Myself Up and I thought, “Holy Shit! Julie Doiron got a new band.” Actually, it’s her old band, Eric’s Trip, but thank God, anyway. Drums and a little distortion go a long way to making something a little more edgy. I’ve been a fan of Doiron’s for years now and have adored her past records for many of the reasons I’m about to criticize. It’s not that those records are bad, just that she needed to make a record like Woke Myself Up to hold my interest.
This isn’t a complete departure for Doiron — it really isn’t. Woke Myself Up certainly has a nice selection of Doiron-and-her-guitar-having-a-moment songs. They are peppered throughout the record — it wouldn’t be Julie Doiron without them. On her last album, Goodnight Nobody, these intimate moments could often be accused of dragging, but these songs tend to have more upbeat conclusions, or at least cute cat sound effects — during “I Left Town” you can hear a faint meow in the background. On the last few efforts there hasn’t been a song like “No More” where Doiron plays with a whole lot of vocal tracks and but still makes time for a drum fill, it’s all very refreshing.
There are a lot of easy jokes to make about a raucous outing entitled Woke Myself Up after four sleepy, quiet, often sparse records. So I’ll let you make jokes; I’m going to avoid them. The title seems deliberate, so that’s no fun. But Woke Myself Up is by no means an all-out action rocket express of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a long way from it, in fact. Instead, it’s a nice reminder of 1994, when Doiron and the rest of Eric’s Trip were earning their Sonic Youth comparisons. Now, things are a little different: for one thing, their production is more adult and less garage. The other thing is that Eric’s Trip have never sounded so much like The Wooden Stars (Ottawa band and Doiron’s backup on Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars). This record is more a successor to the Wooden Stars record than Eric’s Trip. With the exception of “I Woke Myself Up.” That’s pure Eric’s Trip.
If you were a fan of Eric’s Trip, even if you’ve never followed Doiron’s solo career, this record is a must-have. It’s an amazing chance to see what break-ups, marriage, a couple of kids and a cross-continent move can do to a band.
