ALBUM: Ioanna Gika – ‘Thalassa’

Ioanna Gika is a Greek American artist whose debut solo album Thalassa is out today. The album is named in honour of the Greek spirit of the sea, which I mention if only to highlight the sense of aural vastness and awe that Gika is establishing here. The epic opening track ‘Roseate’, in all its sophistication and variety, complexity and beauty, acts as a sonic manifesto. It points the way towards what Gika intends to do with the rest of the album. The sound is both expansive and complex, atmospheric and soundscape-y. It is all absorbing and overwhelming.

Within this piece of work there are industrial percussion elements set against soaring ethereal vocals and electro atmospherics, while at the same time light and dark sonic elements wrap themselves around each other in tendrils. From the eerie piano of the title track, to the exhilarating giddiness and elemental wildness of ‘Messenger’, with its fast electronic percussion and soaring vocals, it feels primal in nature. There are jagged string sections, layers of reverb, and passages of dark, sonic foreboding alongside ethereal beauty.

The single ‘Swan’ is an atmospheric and minimalistic piece, complex and poignantly raw in its emotional palette. Whereas ‘Weathervane’ has a ghostly, wistful element to it which is underpinned by industrial style percussion. Gika sounds like a mournful siren, standing on the rocks and looking out to sea during ‘No Matter What’, but ‘Ammonite’ is a dark pop song with solid foundations. Closing track ‘Drifting’ is simply elegant in its concept, the aural equivalent of a dragonfly flitting across a lake lit by sunshine; its motif is what sounds like a high speed harp, twinkling magically in the sunshine.

This is a tremendous album, one that is awe inspiring in scale and haunting in quality. Not to be missed.

Thalassa, the debut album from Ioanna Gika, is out now via Sargent House.

Cazz Blase
@CazzBlase

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ALBUM: Witching Waves – ‘Persistence’

Founded just over five years ago by Emma Wigham and Mark Jasper, Witching Waves are a DIY post-punk trio hailing from London. Sharing the name of an amusement ride from Coney Island, New York (and later Blackpool, England) Witching Waves is as raw as its namesake; a juxtaposition of metallic melodies and propulsive rhythm.

Having released their debut LP, 2014’s Fear of Falling Down, and 2016’s Crystal Cafe, on the now-defunct Soft Power Records, Witching Waves are now set to release their third album. Joining Wigham’s infectious drumming and Jasper’s angular riffing is Estella Adeyeri on bass guitar. Adeyeri’s addition to the band in 2016, in addition to a relentless touring schedule, sparked the creative energy that culminated into their most confident record, Persistence.

Writing for Persistence started in 2016, with the music recorded over two days in 2017, and mixing done in 2018; hence the name of the album. With their debut, Witching Waves were simply experimenting; Wigham was learning how to play the drums at the time, in the studio, and in front of a live audience. Songs were often recorded not long after they were written. But on Persistence, Witching Waves have taken their time – preforming new songs live, laying the foundations for the LP – resulting in a much more focused release.

This is not to say that Persistence is a more polished record. Recorded live directly to tape within Jasper’s Hackney warehouse studio, Sound Savers, Witching Waves have lost none of their DIY ethics; as is evident from the opening track, ‘Disintegration’. The band recorded the album on their own – with minimal help with the mixes – resulting in much welcome distortion. Without being able to monitor the levels on the tapes, Jasper’s guitar frequently went into the red and Persistence is all the better for it! ‘Disintegration’ is a great example of how these live takes make the record sound so authentic.

Next, Wigham goes full throttle on ‘Best of Me’ – the latest single to be released. Crashing against the drums with ferocity, Wigham displays a sense of discomfort with lyrics that touch upon self-worth and identity. “I can’t move on / I can’t go back / You’ve got the best of me.” The tension throughout is inescapable, but it is the frantic raw energy of ‘Eye 2 Eye’ – a self-described “ode to conflict” – that displays the maturity of a band pissed off. Wigham and Jasper trade vocals that demand your attention amongst scratchy guitar riffing, pulsating bass lines, and clashing cymbals: “When did we decide to talk about it? / How do we begin to talk about it?”

 

Persistence continues to see Witching Waves channel their internal tensions regarding relationships and society into each unapologetic track. An obvious example would be ‘Money’, a song focused on the English capital that is becoming increasingly unaffordable for its many residents. The band’s honesty and emotion is admirable, with each member revealing themselves to the world; their frustrations and discomforts captured on this very personal record.

With Persistence, Witching Waves have produced a brash, complex, and dark post-punk record with pop sensibilities that documents an authentic, ongoing struggle worthy of repeat listening.

Persistence, the upcoming album from Witching Waves, is out 5th April via Specialist Subject Records.

Ken Wynne
@Ken_Wynne

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ALBUM: The Coathangers – ‘The Devil You Know’

Let’s face it, the human mind is a complex thing. It can be difficult to have more than one thing going on, and half of the time you don’t even know what’s happening up there… Some things just can’t co-exist. Expelling this rule in a fantastically riotous half-hour are The Coathangers with their seventh album, The Devil You Know.

Pre-released single, ’Bimbo’, is the infectiously upbeat opener. Completely innocently, the track opens with a straight bassline, with quintessentially on beat, twinkling top notes of a keyboard. This is later ripped apart and kicked into overdrive with raucous thrashes of fuzzy guitar and a semi-sung chorus. The rest of the album follows suit with an angst-infused collective of fiery ditties, ‘5 Farms’ and ‘Crimson Telephone’.

Then I have an epiphany. This ain’t no ordinary album. This lot have an agenda. Political and social commentary bursts through the foundations of the album like a balloon on a cactus. This is most evident in the fourth and seventh tracks, ‘Hey Buddy’ and ‘F the NRA’. In ‘Hey Buddy’ a guttural and hoarse voice croaks through the song laced with simple yet powerful twangs of guitar, proving less is more as they growl “Hey buddy are you looking at me? You call me a faggot and you call me a sleaze”. ‘F The NRA’ does just what it says on the tin; a poignant, impassioned plea against gun violence, propelled by a gritty, punk-driven energy. 

The album winds to a close with quieter and melancholy, but nonetheless badass, tracks ‘Last Call’ and ‘Lithium’. Both include a gentle and heavily reverberated vocal resonating the sound of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval. The guitars sound like they’re crying. And now I’m crying.

The Devil You Know takes you from wanting to go out, make some noise and paint the town red, to staying in bed and never getting up again. And we love every second of its racing thirty minutes. 

The Devil You Know is out now via Suicide Squeeze. Catch The Coathangers live on their upcoming tour:

24th April – The Latest Music Bar, Brighton
25th April – Studio 9294, London
27th April – The Cookie, Leicester
28th April – SWG Poetry Club, Glasgow
29th April – Soup Kitchen, Manchester
30th April – Arts Club (Loft), Liverpool
1st May – The Key Club, Leeds

Megan Berridge
@noisygal_

 

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ALBUM: Desperate Journalist – ‘In Search Of The Miraculous’

I’ve gone In Search of the Miraculous later than others; in fact, this retro-feel record is my first dance with Desperate Journalist (however much I might relate to their name). Although it may only be my first, this album is the third outing from the London band whose tunes, at least now, echo the ’80s of The Cure and the most underrated A Flock of Seagulls.

Similarly, In Search of the Miraculous also conjures the nation’s feelings on what’s going on with the country and beyond. Though in songs such as ‘Cedars’ lead singer and songwriter, Jo Bevan, sings of interconnectivity, there’s still something about the songs that reads as political, as prophetic; both comparative to the era before Morrissey outed himself as too much of a dick and dissonant.

Where ‘Cedars’ speaks of love, ‘International Waters’ holds nothing back on the state of the world. Furthermore, the clear influence of the heady gothic edge of the ’80s on In Search of the Miraculous is full of current sounds. Full of influence from London as it is under 40 and maybe above, maybe below, but always in the shadows of the 1%.

For me, the clear winner of the record comes with the closer. And trust me, it’s hard to pick a winner from a batch of great songs. That said, there’s a lot in the spangling Pearl Thompson-esque riffs of closing track ‘To Be Forgotten’ to make the record feel like the closing of a journey that you’ll only want to start over again.

Bevan’s vocals are the highlight of the album, but it’s impossible to say anything other than the fact that Desperate Journalist works as a fourpiece and, was any of those pieces displaced, it would disrupt the ‘Ocean Wave’. Desperate Journalist’s newest album is as much a must for hardcore ’80s enthusiasts as those who’ve never even heard of a Smith.

In Search Of The Miraculous is out now via Fierce Panda. Catch Desperate Journalist live:

14th March: Birmingham – Hare and Hounds
15th March: Manchester – Deaf Institute
16th March: Glasgow – Broadcast
21st March: Bristol – Exchange
22nd March: Nottingham – Bodega
23rd March: Leeds – Lending Room
5th April: London – The Garage

Em Burfitt
@fenderqueer

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