Beth Cameron, frontwoman and guitarist of Nashville band Forget Cassettes, is not a big woman. From what I’ve read in reviews of the band’s shows, she’s tiny. But she makes an almighty racket.

At the time of recording their debut album, FC was just Beth and a guy called Doni who hit the drums quite hard. He’s left to hit drums with …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, as you do, and two other boys have replaced him. It must be nice to discover that you are equivalent to two people.

I don’t know what they sound like now, but back in 2004, they were producing a lot of noise for just a duo. I’d estimate they’re around 50% louder now, but that’s making a few assumptions.

Guitarists in two-piece bands often resort to tricks like installing bass pickups (a la Local H) or creating larger-than-life personas centred around faux-incest dynamics (the White Stripes). I don’t think Beth Cameron has done either of these. She just rips shreds off her Gibson SG and shows off some almighty chops.

Forget Cassettes’ music is best described as a post-punk melange. They seem to pay reference to riot grrrl (the vocals), post-rock (the quiet passages), Hüsker Dü (the really raucous bits) and occasionally even classic bands like Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin (bluesy, loud riffs). Something for the whole family, really.

Cameron’s voice brings to mind early PJ Harvey, although she can sound a little bit more petulant at times and her lyrics sometimes verge on school-girl journal sentiments. Yet when she unleashes the full power of her voice at the same time as a blast of guitar, it merges into a wall of sound that can make grown men cry. Judging by some of her lyrics, that was probably the desired end.

One of my favourite tracks on the album is the title-track “Instruments of Action.” The interplay between guitar and drums is impressive and the stop-start rhythm builds anticipation for each note—something very few songs can claim. The multiple crescendos and peaks coincide with the most defiant lyrics leaving the listener with no doubt that this band mean what they say.

“Like Tiny Swords” is another stand-out, I suspect because it reminds me of Placebo’s “36 Degrees.” It a simpler song, in terms of musical technique, than others on the album but it boasts an intensity and a sense of purpose that trounces far showier songs.

Forget Cassettes aren’t particularly well known outside of Nashville and a WOXY-inspired following in Ohio, but with musical power like this, it’ll take blocks of solid concrete to keep them from being heard.

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