Rocket Paloma could almost be diagnosed with musical schizophrenia based on the difference between the Milwaukee act’s first and second recordings. The name has gone from representing singer Joanna Kerner as a soloist accompanied by a loose, acoustic cow-punk ensemble to being the handle for a sharp modern rock band with prior folk roots lurking deep in their sound.
The current Rocket iteration sounds as if Kerner’s been absorbing the Roches’ ethereal earnestness and Veruca Salt’s snotty snark. That breadth of influence plays into a marked uptick in the quality of Kerner’s songwriting as well. The first Rocket Paloma EP, Great, found Kerner bemoaning lost love and kvetching about frenemies in somewhat juvenile fashion; on Rocket Paloma’s four songs she’s a cagier, more cryptic observer of the relational goings-on around her. Whether she and her band mates continue in their current direction or back up some to pick up aspects of their former aesthetic, the full album that should come next ought to be a somewhere in the neighborhood of revelatory.
Release party Saturday, March 25 at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 1001 E. Locust St.
