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| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Shoegazers, janglers and dream-poppin' daddies... |
| Date | Sat, 12 Jul 2003 02:15:28 -0400 |
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...knock me your lobes, to paraphrase the late Lord Buckley. The Eaves are
here, and their self-titled debut is touching pleasure centers that have
lain dormant ever since Lush's second album wasn't as good as the EPs that
had come before. Groups like the Lassie Foundation and Stretch Princess
have circled around the old gauzy '80s sound, but the Eaves (a female-led
trio from New York) are the first band I've heard that both get it right
and have enough personality of their own to sound contemporary. Excellent
stuff, available now from the Ace Fu label, www.acefu.com -- eMusic
subscribers should do a search, and others can start here:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/mp3/
Here's a proper and more detailed review I just finished:
A New York-based trio with a female singer and a guitarist who clearly
loves his old Echo and the Bunnymen and Smiths albums, the Eaves bring the
late-'80s dream pop sound (think of the respective outputs of the 4AD and
Factory Benelux labels) into the 21st century. Singer Jen Adam doesn't have
the chipmunk squeak of a Liz Fraser or Kristin Hersh; her deeper and more
detached vocals are reminiscent of both Tracey Thorn and Brix Smith, and
the characteristically nebulous, diffused sound of these seven lengthy
songs usually places them well down in the mix, under her keyboards and
Casey Sweten's roiling, echoey guitar lines. Similarly, atmosphere and
texture tends to be placed before melody. Although all of these songs have
sturdy tunes and memorable hooks (the propulsive, Go-Betweens-like "Bird
Lawyer" is particularly wonderful), the pillow-soft surfaces of the songs
are so luxuriously inviting that several listens can go by before the
melodic strength of songs like the deliciously dreamy "Top Drawer Man"
sinks in. Anyone with a fond memory of the pre-grunge shoegazer scene will
find much to love here, but the Eaves have enough personality and talent to
keep from being a mere nostalgia act.
S
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