Gothycka Mucha Moderator
Gender: Age: 40 Zodiac: Joined: 18 Jul 2004 Posts: 1152 Location: Miasto Kominów
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Posted: 21-02-2006, 11:58 Post subject: EVA - Demo recording v.1.2 (2004) |
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It is an extended version of a published a year earlier demo by this Warsaw coldwave group, on which we have two more songs - Mała czarna oral vox and Fotonclub, out of which the latter one appeared also on the compilation Dark East (Big Blue/OFF Sound 2004). The group presents the cold wave as if taken from the 80's and strongly rooted in the tradition of such bands like Siouxie and the Banshees or The Cure. The covers of these bands' songs also appeared on this album.
Demo opens with Zaspany, one of the best tracks of this group. Fast, motoric parts by the band's bass player - September, rhythm by auto-percussion and the low voice by Moni Black immediately introduce us into the band's musical world and that's how it will stay until the end of the album. After Zaspany we get Mała czarna oral vox - a noisy, almost industrial composition that reminds us of works by Slovenian Laibach and it's the weakest track in this set. It wouldn't make any different if the band skipped it. Fotonclub - this song is driven by an expressive bass riff and the Cure-like guitar. As I already mentioned above, this track was recorded for the compilation Dark East which presents young Eastern European bands of the gothic and dark scene.
Then the band presents the first of the covers - Give Me It, which sounds even better than the original version. This mediocre The Cure song gains much thanks to Moni's voice, just like another cover of the same band - Plastic Passion. It's the key composition in the history of the band, as thanks to it EVA reached wider audience. The song appeared on the compilation Prayers For Disintegration - a tribute album for The Cure. Similarly to Give me it, this song sounds more accomplished, richer (which may be also attributed to the production - a very good one for a demo recording) and simply better. Rare as it may be…
Next EVA's songs - Kition and Malarz – could as well find their place on any of the early The Cure's albums and they would undoubtedly grace it. The band show a great talent for creating catchy melodies that are nice to listen to and at the same time they are on a high artistic level. The record is closed by Mamy czas – it's slower than all other songs, rather similar to Mała Czarna… and it brings to my mind darker and more rance-like fragments of the new romantics' Bible – Vienna by Ultravox. The song closes the album well, leaving a bit of hunger… you feel you want some more…
It wasn't a coincidence that I left my favourite track for the end. It's a cover of Israel by Siouxie and the Banshees. The band has slowed the song down, which added to its dignity and force. Moni's vocal is also of importance - here it is similar to the one of Siouxie Sioux - you'd wish Siouxie recorded such songs today… The composition lasts for over 6 minutes and it's 6 minutes of a cold-wave ecstasy.
No doubts that the band is influenced greatly by such artists like The Cure, Siouxie and the Banshees or Joy Division but at the same time you can hear the beginnings of their own style - especially in songs like Malarz and Fotonclub. In spite of a large number of borrowings, all the fans should get to know the offer of this band - in Poland you'd have to look for a long time to find a band of such a high quality.
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I could have been saying that the band had great future on the Polish dark scene, especially after their performances at the Dark Entries Festival 2004 in Gdynia and the Castle Party 2004, was it not for the fact that their disbanded after the summer festivals. The musicians continue their career as Miguel and the Living Dead and Moni is said to be looking for a new band. I'm looking impatiently forward to the works of both camps.
8/10
Track list:
1. Zaspany
2. Mała czarna oral vox
3. Fotonclub
4. Give me it
5. Kition
6. Israel
7. Malarz
8. Plastic passion
9. Mamy czas
The band: Moni Black - voc, Semtember - b, Azyl - g (1, 4-9), Slavik - g (2,3) |
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