EP: Sit Down – ‘Cheap Luxe’

Describing themselves as “halfway between Jack Black and Jack White,” Brighton duo Sit Down are a DIY force to be reckoned with. Formed in 2016 after temporarily living in New York City, guitarist & vocalist Greg Burns and drummer & vocalist Katie Oldham honed their punk ethos and admiration for strong rebellious women and created their knockout debut EP, Cheap Luxe.

Labelled by the band as “the lovechild of sin and substance,” the EP was self-produced between two bedrooms and released online at the end of March. Listeners will be cracking their knuckles in preparation for opening track ‘Mothership’, which provides a defiant, alien-invasion-inspired introduction to an onslaught of seething, seductive sound. Getting revenge sounds brutal and beautiful on second track ‘Bloodlust’, on which Katie leads the vocals and Greg welds more of his manic, menacing riffs.

The devious ‘Honeysucker’ rips through shortly after, demanding listeners attention with its primal drumming, filthy riffs and Greg & Katie’s dual vocals colliding in blood-lusting fashion. Closing track ‘Cheap Luxe’ is a searing, sassy attack on materialism with visceral reverb and pounding percussion that’ll have listeners reveling in the idea that the real high life is “living cheap as fuck!”

There’s no force on earth that will make you sit still – or indeed Sit Down – to this Goliath-sounding debut EP. Get up, get moving and get sweaty to Cheap Luxe. Fans of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills & Deap Vally will definitely approve.

You can listen to/download Cheap Luxe on bandcamp here. Follow Sit Down on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Jessie Morgan

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Get In Her Ears1 Comment

Track Of The Day: Esther Joy – ‘Day 4 (Landing)’

Unusual artist Esther Joy has released the second track from her upcoming record The Acid Caves Vol 1 (released April 27th), and it’s a warped ear-worm which continues to document the story of the character at the centre of the concept record: young alien Silipur.

The London-based producer’s electronic manipulations on new single ‘Day 4 (Landing)’ are mind-bendingly catchy, and Esther has accompanied them with the following explanation:

“This song is the second in the Acid Caves story, following a young alien ‘Silipur’ in a world where all intelligent lifeforms are able to see in a new dimension called ‘The Chaos’. The Chaos gives the ability to see, understand and manipulate emotional energy which is fuelling the universe. Humans are the only beings that lack this ability as a fixation on ego stunted their natural evolution.

‘Day 4 (Landing)’ is based on Silipur’s first day on Earth. She is overwhelmed by the psychological state of the planet and the emotional toxicity of it’s atmosphere. Humans cannot understand ‘The Chaos’ and have therefore left their planet to emotional ruin. I wanted this song to feel violent and intrusive, as if you are experiencing the extremity and destruction of earth for the very first time.”

We’re enthralled by Esther’s narratives and are highly anticipating the next slice. Listen to “Day 4 (Landing)” below, and follow Esther Joy’s alien tales on Facebook.

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

LISTEN: HAWK – ‘Keeps Me Out’

Having won our hearts over the last couple of years with the politically charged grace of tracks such as ‘Can’t Explain’, ‘Below’ and ‘Sin’, GIHE faves HAWK return to charm our ears with a brand new single.

Oozing the twinkling majesty and subtle power of frontwoman Julie’s celestial vocals, ‘Keeps Me Out’ is filled with whirring hooks and exquisite harmonies, with a shoegaze-inspired haze reminiscent of the likes of Joy Formidable or Cocteau Twins. Exuding a swirling sense of euphoria, it’s another completely spellbinding offering from the band.

Listen to ‘Keeps Me Out’ now:

 

As well as loving her music, we’re also huge fans of Julie Hawk’s wonderful ‘Female Fronted Drawn Together’ project – a project through which she has created a playlist of admirable female bands/musicians and created an illustration to accompany each song.

Catch HAWK live at the following dates:

28th March – Whelan’s – Dublin, Ireland
5th May – Birdies Bar – The Local – Liverpool Sound City

Mari Lane
@marimindles

 

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

LIVE: Fever Ray – The Troxy, London 20.03.18

There are plenty of reasons to admire Fever Ray (aka Karin Dreijer) after her sold out show at London’s Troxy last night, but not all of them are based around her electrifying music.

In Fever Ray’s space, she takes care to make sure no-one is an outsider: everyone is welcome in her warped and wonderful world.

Before the gig, signs around the venue explicitly stated she wanted fans not to use their phones to document the evening and immerse themselves in her performance. The same signs requested that women come to the front and taller people stand back if obscuring a shorter person’s view. Outside of the toilets, another sign indicated that for the duration of the night, toilet facilities were trans-friendly spaces and trans fans were free to use the bathroom they felt aligned with their gender identity.

Emerging from the lights in her trademark “I heart Swedish girls” t-shirt and bare scalp, she plunged in to ‘An Itch’ as her crystal clear vocals swept across her excited crowd. From start to finish, the sound was flawless: each lyric, synth sequence, and drum beat distinct and easily discernible from the next. She delivered only a simple “Hello” or “Thank You” between songs – scarcely interrupting the torrent of sound.

She tore through ‘A Part Of Us’ and ‘When I Grow Up’, before performing ‘Mustn’t Hurry’ and ‘This Country’ with full fervor. The politically charged lyrics on the latter: “Free abortions and clean water / destroy nuclear / destroy boring” were echoed back by the crowd, and erotically charged line “this country makes it hard to fuck” was passionately reciprocated too.

Plunge‘s lead single ‘Wanna Sip’ sounded every inch as intense live, followed by ‘I’m Not Done’, the superb ‘Red Trails’ and the ominous ‘Concrete Walls’. The luscious “To The Moon & Back” came next, with it’s upbeat electronics buoyant lyrics, bleeding into the infectious ‘IDK About You’. The eerie ‘Keep The Streets Empty For Me’ was a fitting penultimate track and prepared fans for a powerful encore of ‘If I Had A Heart’ and ‘Mamma’s Hand’.

Fever Ray’s fierce, focused, full-on performance at the Troxy proved she’s an inimitable talent with a vision, generosity and energy unlike any other. Simply put: if you weren’t there, you missed out.

Support came from the the fluorescent and fabulous Bunny.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment