It's 40 degrees here today. The slight, pointless breeze only exacerbating that lazy insular feeling of "Too Hot To Care". MYYTHS should be played at night, under a sickle moon as you're nursing a red wine and contemplating everything that ever went wrong; an emotional claustrophobia difficult to verbalise out loud. Syd S and Tiffany S are a Brighton duo that have only been working together a short time, but this is already their second project after their inclusion in four piece FVNERALS - another example of the increasingly popular Google subvert name challenge. (See Chvrches for another example of this search engine thwarting).
Their sound as FVNERALS was already at home at your local goth tea party, yet here they are even moodier (they could actually be happier than ever - I hear Tim Hecker is actually a very cheerful bloke) and have just released this stunningly dense debut. 'Tystnad' is brooding and ambient electronic with accessible hooks and slow rhythms in amongst the disjointed cadences of a horror movie soundtrack build-up. From the album's opening track 'Hjarta', you should understand that this starts as it means to go on. Inky black waves lapping on a solitary beach, a lone violinist accompanying your darkest fantasies. I read another reviewer likening Tiffany's vocals to Siouxsie Sioux at a low RPM. I can hear that, but am also reminded of the long lost voice of Merida Sussex from forgotten Melbourne outfit Paradise Motel.'Whirl' contains a haunting siren as if she is singing to us from the remains of a ship, long submerged at the bottom of the sea, or as a gathering call for a bunch of zombies.
'Haze' is achingly beautiful, reminding me of Rachel Fannan's inclusion in Unkle's 'Sunday Song'. The instrumentation is varied, haunting and diverse; I would love to see how it translates to a live setting. The title-track is wonderfully hypnotic, with 'Tide' even more so, accompanying a welcome sunset here in Oz after a blistering day. The experience of listening to 'Tystnad' was like being strapped to a bed with moving images and lights projected on the screen above; if you're in the wrong (or right as the case may be) mood, you may be forced to plumb depths of your consciousness that you're not ready to face. Here is a prime example of why this genre is no longer the domain of the diehard clubber comedown. This is now a genuine space for accomplished musicians trying their hand at something new, making sense of the spaces between darker indie and sounds that don't belong in guitar tab books. Highly recommended Doomsday soundtrack.
MYYTHS's website
Stream or buy the album
Catch them live:
THU 06 MAR Prince Albert, Brighton, UK
For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter
contact@thesoundofconfusion.com
No comments:
Post a Comment