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I have been doing EvilSponge for most of the
current century, and i am now on a lot of
mailing lists for various promotional
companies. One that i get seems to feature a
lot of bands from a geographic area that
starts in Southern Indiana and stretches
through southern Ohio and into the Pittsburgh
metro area. This territory is, believe it or
not, the ethnic homeland of your humble
reviewer. I have relatives scattered
throughout that area, and have visited many of
the places that this promotional companies
clients call home.
I never talk with my relatives about music. I
am sure that they look at me in some obscure
band t-shirt, talking about writing reviews
online, and figure i am into "out there"
stuff. Most of them probably listen to...
well, whatever passes for "mainstream" these
days. Taylor Swift? Drake? I am sure that my
relatives like that sort of thing. None of
them seem to be as into music as a nerd like
myself, who delights in tracking down the
weird and the esoteric to listen to. And
that's fine. Most people are not as into music
as me.
And in general my ethnic homeland is not a
hotbed of musical activity. Very few artists
of note come out of the Pittsburgh area, and
only a handful from southern Ohio (Afghan
Whigs and Guided by Voices being the two most
noteworthy). But i listen to each of the
promos i get from this area, hoping for
something exciting.
This brings me to the band Spoils, who hail
from Cincinnati, well within the lands of my
people. This band has a generic name, one that
is kind of hard to websearch. So I think that
this is their second EP. It's all very vague.
But they are interesting and make some
catchy, enjoyable music.
The band seems to be primarily the vehicle of
songwriter, guitarist, and violinst Nina
Payiatis. You don't see a lot of violinists
leading bands, really. But here we are. Ms.
Payiatis has a pretty voice, and her band
surround it with light guitar, rolling bass,
and cymbal heavy drumming (drummer Leo Martini
REALLY likes his cymbals, especially on the
choruses!).
The songs are mid-tempoed and fun, with
catchy rhythms. Spoils reminds me of Chastity
Belt, or Candace
maybe. Girl indie pop at a middling pace. I
like this kind of stuff.
Spoils start off their EP with a nice little
instrumental called Intro. It's pretty
enough and does what the name says. This flows
into a song called David, which moves
along nicely, swelling up on the chorus with
an organ thrumming and Payiatis singing
clearly about some dude named, well, David.
Apparently he is some guy from her
neighborhood who introduced himself after
seeing her band. Must have left quite the
impression to get a song about him. This is a
fun tune.
Bassist Jack Doyle drives Figure It Out.
Payiatis's voice is clear, crisp and the
guitar is echoed and messy for maximum
contrast. On the chorus, the gutiar grooves
and Martini hits every cymbal he owns.
Light guitar, echoing in an empty room,
starts off Riverbed (Redux), a
re-recording a tune from their debut EP. Some
strings drone in the background, and this song
is mellow and kind of sad, but very pretty.
And finally Spoils cut loose on Come
Closer. A male voice joins in -- the
drummer or maybe the bassist? No credit is
listed online. There are also prominent
keyboards, and Payiatis really wails here,
pushing her voice louder than on other tracks.
The guitar here is all new wavish chime and
tremolo, and the bass a nice rumble. Get yer
new wave on!
But it's a solid effort. Maybe we will hear
more from Payiatis and company.
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