Labels: Anima
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This kind of thing stuns me dead. The lyrics are printed on FOUR SEPERATE PIECES OF COLOURED CLOTH. Now that’s presentation for you. So it’s emo. Obviously. But it isn’t emo-[suffix]. This is pure emo, like what bands were Moss Icon, Navio Forge, Indian Summer… Those guys. This is where that genre got it’s stupid name in the 1st place.
The music is a kinda weird style too. First song has jangles underlying the more agressive stylings of the music, some parts get quite noisy, and then suddenly it breaks down into totally mellow parts. Vocals are dual, one guy is really gruff and unintelligble, and the other guy sort of screamy. Comparisons, uh, Four Hundred Years? Vaguely. This is original. The second song is called “Brown Leaves Are Grey”, and starts off with some spoken word over the twinkles, and then they get the music going and it’s pretty weird. Quirky emo, with odd rhythms and time changes, but it gets crazier as it goes a long, particularly when the music stops and they say some stuff, then it starts again and they just scream a bit, and then the music stops and they shout, then it starts and they scream, then it stops and a guy shouts. Exhausting.
First on the b is “Like A Wish”, breaking in with mellow jangling, spoken vocals in the foreground, distant screaming behind it. It gets louder at times, but mainly is the ultra pretty twinkling that is really contrasted against the yelling that it’s mixed with. Things end up on a faster, messy track that isn’t quite so exhilirating, but never mind. Some very odd time changes and some strange guitar chords.
No question, this record is draining to listen to. You live every second of it. If you like stuff like Julia, you know, go find this. Featuring ex-members of Constatine Sankathi. Who ever they were.