EP: Dear Pariah – ‘Live at Thais’

London-based songwriter Dear Pariah‘s (Charlie Hinchcliff) latest EP, Live at Thais, is a salve on frayed nerves, with its soothing presence and expansive soundscape. From the outset, Hinchcliff sets hearts aflutter with her crystal clear vocal delivery and poignant lyricism. The EP is hazy and hypnotic, yet hyper-focused on building a strong sonic base through minimalist instrumentation.

The five-track offering opens with ‘Felt Some Love’, a slow-burning rock-tinged tune, anchored by an electric guitar and Hinchcliff’s heartfelt vocals. Following track ‘Bench’ goes in the opposite direction, going for an acoustic instrumental that highlights Hinchcliff’s impressive vocal range. With poetic lyrics and a soothing sonic arrangement, this is a personal favourite and a very early highlight.

The gospel-touched delivery of ‘Not Ready’ shows Hinchcliff’s musical versatility, surrounding listeners in the warmth of heavenly vocals, and melodies that beg for more than one listen. Next comes ‘Tired’, a hauntingly beautiful tune which plays with folksy instrumentation. The track is another stand-out, with its vulnerable, melancholic setting blanketing the mood of the EP. It’s a sombre yet comforting listen.

Closing track ‘Leave Me Be’ is a quiet piece of brilliance that shines for its understated arrangement and delivery. Led by acoustic guitar and elevated by a voice that feels meditative and powerful all at once, the track brings Live at Thais to a perfect ending. Dear Pariah is an artist everyone needs to listen to at least once, and if you’re going to pick any place to start, Live at Thais is certainly the best.

Buy your copy of Live At Thais from bandcamp.
Follow Dear Pariah on Spotify & Facebook for more updates.

Malvika Padin
@malvika_padin26

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Track Of The Day: Temples Of Youth – ‘Suburbia’

From The Kinks to David Lynch, Arcade Fire and Hanif Kureishi – the space between the city and the country has been occupying creative minds almost since its creation, with its blend of comfort and conformity, its security and secrets, kept behind double-glazing. Now it’s the turn of Winchester-based duo Temples Of Youth to turn their gaze on ‘Suburbia’, with pretty good timing, given that we’re almost all stuck in our residences right now.  

Where previous TOY releases have hewed more towards dream pop – such as last year’s ‘Rose Tinted’, or the chillwave/synthpop of 2017’s self-titled EP -, ‘Suburbia’ has the feel of stylised, passionate rock-pop with its Cult style guitar openings, straight out of the Billy Duffy playbook, and underlying synth chords. That drive doesn’t let up, either, in the minor key vocal harmonies by members Jo and Paul, or the song’s structure, with its two lyrical verses followed by a choppy riff middle eight, that falls away and lets the track finish with synths that rise like the start of a new day. 

Lyrically, the song is deceptively simple, with most lines containing monosyllables but evoking a story rich with mystery and emotion: “Meet me in suburbia / A place to live / A place to hide… Now there’s no turning back.”

Perhaps what’s most impressive here, as with all TOY releases, is that despite the band’s DIY ethos, ‘Suburbia’ sounds the equal in its production to anything you’re likely to hear threatening the charts. With a new EP due to be recorded at some point later this year, pandemic-permitting, it seems inevitable that Temples of Youth will be heard in homes up and down the land, before too long.

 

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

 

 

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Video Premiere: Lial – ‘Dirty Little Lies’

Following her last single, ‘Embers’, earlier this year, London artist Lial is back with a haunting new offering, ahead of the release her second EP, set for release this summer.

Reflecting on the theme of betrayal and the thrill of desire for the forbidden, ‘Dirty Little Lies’ oozes a dark melancholy with hypnotic eerie undertones. Propelled by glitchy hooks and the soaring splendour of Lial’s rich vocals, a sweeping, shimmering emotion resonates throughout, creating a majestic slice of brooding alt-pop. Of the track, she explains:

“Connection is an inherent part of being human and so you do anything you can to justify it while you’re in it, but part of the appeal is its forbidden nature. Lies are enough in themselves to create a spark.”

Directed by Wolf James, watch the bewitching new video for ‘Dirty Little Lies’ now:

‘Dirty Little Lies’ is out tomorrow, 17th April. Made To Break, the upcoming second EP from Lial, is set for release on 12th June.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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EP: Why Bonnie – ‘Voice Box’

Releasing music during a pandemic creates something of a paradox – sure, people are starved for entertainment, and perfectly primed to listen to music on a stream, but launch gigs are cancelled and record shops are closed. Sympathy has to go out to Get in Her Ears faves Why Bonnie then, who’ve just signed to Fat Possum and who have just released their new EP, with a now cancelled show in New York previously part of their plans. That being said, if you absolutely have to stay indoors – or, in a garden, at best – across a sunny Easter weekend, you could do worse than have Voice Box on repeat.

Opener ‘Bury Me’ leads with an acoustic strum into mid-tempo, ’90s tinged, dream pop that’s got a Mazzy Star vocal scattered over a Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Pavement backing. That acoustic flavour is continued in later track ‘Jetplane’, but there it’s also drenched with synths. Closer ‘No Caves’, meanwhile, is four-to-the-floor indie-rock until its guitar spirals and noodles flare into garage.

Previous single, ‘Athlete’ is a standout here, not least as it sits right in the middle of the track listing and opens with a highly inappropriate cough, right in the listener’s direction. Suitably, it’s a lot gruffer than the rest of the EP, with its itchy violins, emerging into an alt-rock stomper.

But it’s the title track that shines most here. An epic five minutes, with a chorus that’s really a middle eight, acting like a breaking off from the early uncertainty of a synth-infused hazy landscape into something with more urgency, replete with a closing guitar outro shimmer. As an introduction to the band, the tune is perfect – and that’s without mentioning the perfume infomercial style video, which the band describe as a “Carpenters-inspired dream world”.  All in all, title-track ‘Voice Box’ is the closest the EP comes to the sound of dream-pop royalty, a la Cocteau Twins – and there’s no higher praise.

Of the EP, and its title, lead singer Blair explains: “It encapsulates a disconnect between my inner and outer world, and not being able to express myself authentically because of that. But, ultimately knowing I will crash and burn if I don’t.”

Given the recent days of self-isolation, and those still ahead of us, perhaps that gap between our inner and outer worlds has become more physical than psychic – but the frustration, the need for communication and contact, and the desire for expression are just the same.  With its waves of light mirroring those of the blossoming spring weather, perhaps Why Bonnie have inadvertently made the perfect music for spending time indoors.

Voice Box is out now via Fat Possum Records.

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

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