More glorious EPs for you to consider
Queen Eleanor's Cross, Emma Howett, Chevy Chase Stole My Wife, Hex Formes, Desmond Doom, Postlooperish, Max Eider
QUEEN ELEANOR’S CROSS - Succession EP
QEC, if I may call them that, are a really interesting addition to the UK Goth scene, with a fresh feel to old staples, the past oozing through their music, and tingling in their wordplay. And what wordplay! As ‘Onryo’ plods along engagingly, our vocalist Scarlet Grey employs all sorts of dramatic phrasing to keep us interested. There’s just two of them according to bandcamp, with Jim D credited as guitarist, but we have electronic trickery and bass involved too. Three people in their Facebook photos? I’m sure all will become clear later.
‘Room For One’ is a mite slower, restful in its bravura, and they really are confident rascals.
“Your eyes aflame with spite, Your mind's a loaded gun. put the bullet in my head. There's only room for one.”
‘S.O.S.’ slips by with a sharper direction, underscored b gentle guitar intrusion, as the words keep on coming, almost slipping out iof character towards the end. ‘Duskworld’ is a fantasy tumble, lowkey but packed with incident.
“A silent nightfall, A thousand owls. Cold, lamenting. Judged by Parliament, Found guilty.”
You should follow what these chaps are up to, and check out their demo collection from 2022, “You Are Not Welcome Here”.
QUEEN ELEANOR’S CROSS - Facebook
EMMA HOWETT - It Gets Flooded
A lovely set of three deft indie items and actually the sort of thing I’d never normally encounter, but Emma was once in Will Dance For Chocolate, and in another band whose review follow this one. ‘Yellow’ is full of sweet, stylish touches across its memorable melodic journey. The title tracks meanders pleasantly enough and initially alarms with the singing because you think we’re in diminutive breathy songwriting territory which can plague you wherever you in any social situation. But no! It stretches out imaginatively, and all is well. ‘The Night Gives Me Song’ is a winsome weird thing.
and she’s also with
CHEVY CHASE STOLE MY WIFE - All The Handsome Men Are Dead
Punktastica! All the elements you’d expect, done with and easy charm.
THINK - What A Strange Place
Four mild sounding but intriguing lo-fi post-punk tracks from a one man project based in Udine, Italy. The sound seem to seep along, but there’s something here which ensures they make for gracious, greying company.
HEX FORMES - Love Made You Vicious
The title certainly grabbed me, and this is a gloriously pained Goth. “I can feel you passing through the veil, I can hear your scratching nails…” begins ‘Vision’ which vibrates with brilliance. Keyboards zigzag in, bass plunks beneath these passionate vocals. Classy.
Things get comfortably gloomier in ‘A Very Special Curse’, the vocal style established, the music pooling around his rotting feet. ‘Until Always’ snaps into a faster rhythm, the bass smoothly active, the vocals more straightforward, the song dipping and bending nicely. ‘I Wanted More’ also plunges ahead greedily, before ‘Inverted Shadows’ sees out with some desolate darting, ashen vocals up front, pained drama floating in the background.
Cracking stuff!
DESMOND DOOM - Doom & Bloom
You should be familiar with Desmond from Melbourne and his ‘glass half embedded in my face’ approach to life. Here’s more of the same, but catchy and involving. ‘Ghost’ stands out as a simple unshakeable regret, but this soup of curdled bile and emotional disenchantment is enjoyable throughout.
POSTLOOPERISH - Ruminations
Postloopersh from New York could have a fine bromance with Desmond Doom, agreeing to go to speed-dating events, but then throwing up outside. Three typically engaging doses of moody music. ‘Garden Of Delights’ stands out as a jaunty, optimistic celebration.
MAX EIDER - All Shall Be Well
One beautiful new song, the title rack, plus two recent tracks pulled in, this is modestly unassuming but stunning indie song writing at its best. ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a plaintive feather bed of emotional comfort, entirely lacking any of the drama of the previous EPs. (This is reality.)
‘Go Gentle’ does what it says on the non-existent tin, no raging into the dying light. ‘The Meek’ also eases itself into existence, enjoying added vocals from Junes Mile-Kingston.
There is a major shift in Max’s life, with a change from Tundratuck Records, home of his last three albums, to Glass Modern, reuniting Max with Glass supremo David Barker where they enjoyed so much Jazz Butcher (R.I.P.) action, as life goes full circle. The bandcamp page carries the full story:
Tundraducks Records supremo Augustus Pokerback has shocked the music world by announcing that Max Eider’s new EP will be released on Glass Modern. ‘I’ve stitched Barker up like a kipper,’ Pokerback commented. ‘I can’t believe I’m rid of that idiot at last.’
Max fills in some details himself.
‘These songs belong together so it made sense to revisit the other two and do a physical release,’ Max says. ‘It’s great to be working with Dave again. Augustus will probably be devastated but to be honest I’m not sure he still has mental capacity, if you know what I mean. He’s 111 years old for fuck’s sake.’