Morgan and the Organ Donors are very much a local band, four friends who only play a few shows a year at a bar they like in Olympia, Washington. They're the sort of band that doesn't usually make an album, let alone one released by a widely distributed label, but Morgan and the Organ Donors happen to have Bikini Kill and Frumpies drummer Tobi Vail holding down the backbeat, as well as two K Records artists, James Maeda of Spider & the Webs and Olivia Ness of C.O.C.O., on lead guitar and bass, respectively. In Olympia, ...
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Morgan and the Organ Donors are very much a local band, four friends who only play a few shows a year at a bar they like in Olympia, Washington. They're the sort of band that doesn't usually make an album, let alone one released by a widely distributed label, but Morgan and the Organ Donors happen to have Bikini Kill and Frumpies drummer Tobi Vail holding down the backbeat, as well as two K Records artists, James Maeda of Spider & the Webs and Olivia Ness of C.O.C.O., on lead guitar and bass, respectively. In Olympia, Morgan and the Organ Donors certainly qualify as a meeting of local heroes, and the group's wild card, lead singer, guitarist, and cool librarian Sara Peté, is more than qualified to take center stage with her friends. The band's first full-length album, 2023's M.O.D.S., is good fun that's also smart and satisfying. The music blends '60s garage rock influences with jangle pop ambience and a punk attitude of unpretentious creativity, and if the results sound a bit like a bar band in spots, they're a great bar band, one that can write songs with compelling melodies and play them with enough spirit and skill to make you set down your beer and take notice. Peté's vocals are sweet and smoky when they want to be, and when they crank up the tempos on tunes like "Haunted," "So Dark," and a cover of Dead Moon's "Clouds at Dawn," she shouts and they rock with joy and commendable ferocity. Their take on "It's Not the Same," first recorded in 1966 by a group of junior high kids from East Wenatchee, Washington called Billy & the Kids, is a gem, a tale of teenage heartbreak that manages to sound honest and true coming from a bunch of grown-ups, and a bit of inspired localism that pays off. M.O.D.S. isn't earth-shattering, yet as the sound of four grown-ups who are still in love with rock & roll and have a ball playing it, it's great fun and makes you hope they decide to record another LP someday. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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