This was my favorite release of 2015, from a band that I discovered by chance at
Secret Stages in July. I remember standing in the weirdness that is Das Haus while this
trio on the stage played accordion and heavily distorted guitar while a rich female voice
wailed. I was entranced during their entire, far too brief, performance, and I looked them
up online as soon as I got home and spent time waiting for a release.
This is a self-released EP they put out in November that I bought as a download off
of BandCamp. Worth every (virtual) cent.
They front load the EP with a song that is simply one of my favorites in years,
Don't Even Think. Vocalist Lacey Guthrie sings meanderingly while her
accordion drones and the guitar of Kevin 'Twinderella' Ratterman builds slowly into a
frenzy that is truly worthy of that greater Guthrie, my hero and yours, Robin Guthrie. I do
not say such things lightly, but the way this song grows, building into a wailing mess
with the guitar distorted and groaning as Guthrie bellows and the drums are tapped is
utterly beautiful and everything a dream pop song should be.
The next track starts with that accordion droning. Guthrie and drummer Maryliz
Bender harmonize and the tune lopes along slowly. Here they really remind me of Beach
House, and there is an easy comparison between Lacey Guthrie and Victoria Legrand.
Both women have rich voices with many depths of natural reverb, as well as an intense
breathiness to their singing, and on this tune in particular the similarity really shows. The
song is called St. Agnes, and I also really like the guitar bit that Ratterman plays
in the middle, just a lovely little trill that echoes under the voices.
Gold From Teeth (Parallel) features a keyboard riff that drives it along, the
keys replacing the accordion drone while Ratterman channels The Verve and Bender
keeps a gothish echoed beat. This song exists at the point where dream pop and the more
ethereal moments of goth rock intersect. I could see comparing Guthrie to Siouxsie here,
although Guthrie’s voice is deeper. Ratterman adds a great descending riff at the end that
really pushes it to the next level.
The next song is called Dog Song and it starts long and slow, Bender kicking
slow mournful beats as the accordion drones. Guthrie sings, “If you don’t feed the dog it
will die” and something feels tragic and dark, but Ratterman cuts loose here, a long
distorted solo that whines mightily. Really pretty.
The next track is a cover of Yoo Doo Right, the old Can song. Twin Limb’s
accordion and shoegaze guitar drone works well with the Krautrock beat and general
Germanic weirdness. Normally I find Can irritating, but Twin Limb turn this into
something catchy.
Finally the EP ends with Longer Shadow, which is a remix of a song they
released on Bandcamp in February of 2015. This remix is echoed and stuttering, their
dreampop made into a jerky, almost eerie thing. Not the best track, to be honest, nut not
awful either.
Still, this is a heck of an EP. About half an hour of music, and really impressive. I
can’t wait to see what they do next! If you are a shoegaze / dreampop fan this is an
essential purchase. |
