Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries

  by Paul Waller

published: 15 / 12 / 2010

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Review

Brighton’s Esben and the Witch recently self released an EP called '33'. So good was this EP that when I heard it I was hoping that they would be a band that would stick around and make many, many hauntingly beautiful records for years to come. So here we are 20 foggy full moons later and Matador has now released this, the band's debut album and with the weather icy and the sky white these winter months have found their perfect musical companion. If you like your reverb then Violet Cries is definitely the album for you. It works incredibly well on tracks such as 'Haxagons IV' where there are deliberate off key moments that notch up the spook factor against the distant plonkey rhythms. Elsewhere Jesus And Mary Chain fans awaiting new recordings from the band will find solace in the fact that Esben and the Witch are keeping their indie noise flag flying during 'Warpath' and 'Argyria', the latter benefiting from a long delay during the build up before the song menace of the song proper kicks in. My only problem lays in the very occasional time that vocalist Rachael Davies sings at full pelt and sounds too close to that horrid Florence Welch lady. It’s as if Flo woke up one morning and discovered a decent band to which she could relay her devilish ideas and vocals to. That snag aside and I am happily putting this along side my '33'EP. It’s meant to be spooky, it’s not meant to be linear pop. This record is a success and I wholeheartedly recommend that this is listened to with the lights off for full effect.

Track Listing:-

1 Argyria
2 Marching Song
3 Marine Fields Glow
4 Light Streams
5 Hexagons IV
6 Chorea
7 Warpath
8 Battlecry/Mimicry
9 Eumenides
10 Swans

Label Links:-

http://www.matadorrecords.com/
https://twitter.com/matadorrecords
https://www.facebook.com/MatadorRecord
http://matadorrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/matadorre
https://www.instagram.com/matadorrecor

Have a Listen:-