Kristeenyoung

The first time Kristine Young, frontwoman for, um, Kristeenyoung, was summoned to meet Morrissey, she was summarily ejected from his Rome recording studio.

¨His producer for his last record videotaped one of our shows at the Delancey [in New York]. Over in Rome, where they were making the record, he was playing it on a big screen. And Morrissey said, Who´s that?´¨ Young recounts. ¨So he called us to come over... But he didn´t recognize me as the person on the video and actually had me kicked out. But, you know, after that, it went better.¨

Good thing -- it´s no small feat for an indie band to impress Mozzer enough to be invited to join his national tour. But rarely does such an astonishingly original duo come along as Kristeenyoung. With Young on electric piano and ¨Baby¨ Jeff White on drums, the band weaves a sound introspective and dark, Wildean and wild. Dresden Dolls comparisons would be easy, but Young´s compositions don´t stick to such a retro sound; the colorful sense of drama will satiate acolytes of David Bowie and Bryan Ferry.

And Young´s keys aren´t tinkly or soft; she plays them aggressively, turning them emotive, even aggressive. ¨I felt really frustrated by the type of piano that I would hear on the radio,¨ she says. ¨It used to be a fiery rock ´n´ roll instrument, and all of a sudden, that changed. I didn´t want to be mediocre on the guitar, because I figured there were enough women doing that already. But seriously, I wanted to do something no one else was doing.¨

She has succeeded, and Morrissey´s audience Saturday should be as taken with her music as the main man himself.