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Spotlight

Demander

Spunky New York trio Demander will have to beat off Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparisons with a stick, and not just due to geographic proximity. Lead singer Karen Kanan Corr�a is reminiscent in stage presence and timbre of Karen O. Corr�a’s a bit less twitchy live, perhaps because she’s got a bass slung around her neck. Where the YYYs have the geek-chic of Brian Chase behind the drum set, Demander has Sivan Harlap, a hard rockin’ girl. In guitarist Jared Scott, Demander has a solid back up to Corr�a, just as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner compliments Karen O.

But Demander manages to pave its own way. The band’s songs are fairly straightforward hard rock, and like the Breeders, Demander structures its songs around innovative bass work from Corr�a. Their lyrics recall Tracy Bonham’s thankless daughter routine in the mid-90s, especially on “Wicked World.” Corr�a sings, “For sometime now / I’ve called you / My mother would / She would not approve.” Corr�a’s voice is somewhere between Kim Deal and Beth from the Gossip.

Corr�a and Harlap have been playing together in some incarnation since the early ’00s. They started out as part of a band called the Hissyfits, playing with acts like the Killers before disbanding in 2003. After playing with an act called Beauty Supply, the duo segued into Demander, becoming a trio along the way with the addition of Scott. Demander plans to release its first album sometime this summer. For more on Demander, click here.