Esben And The Witch – Violet Cries

Terrible sound quality compared to the FLAC version of the album that I own. But since it is the only vinyl release, there is not much choice anyway :)

Reading all the 'metacritics' crap about how this album is "neither this nor that" actually makes it the ideal middle you want to explore. Because it's not hysterically overpraised hype but far more personal affair. Esben & the Witch are not in it for the next big thing (or at least they don't sound that ambitious, despite beautifully constructed details put into music). The only closest companion at the moment, in terms of sound, might be Telepathe - only Esben are far more threatening in being so beautifully cold. Yes, there are echoes of alternative music's more decent past but still, Esben are not lazy adventurers just picking possible influences at random for inspiration. They deserve a chance to haunt you on their own.

Imagine you're lying deep in the snow, beside you is a frozen body with an open mouth... while there's no more breaths coming out of the body's mouth, the echoes of another world, hidden - cry out from within, unleashed by some strange, luring ghostly presence...

"Violet Cries" is no fluke with an icy, utopian cover. Ideal for winter days and nights, maybe not to explore it perfectly alone, but that depends on how willingly claustrophobic and isolated you feel sharing its intimacy with anyone else.

This album is not a shoegaze record, nor a goth or a new wave record. It's like mixing a little Cranes atmospherics (the quieter moments, mostly), with some MBV (not Slowdive), adding in some classic 4AD (think both Cocteau Twins & Xmal Deutschland, minus the sonic frippery of the former & the "German-ness" of the latter), and mixing in a little moody prog-rock and Siouxsie! Maybe it's even a WAY darker, more guitar-y / fuzzier, abstract Sundays or indie-goth Cranberries. Those who remember Chimera will know exactly what this means. It's a very tasty sonic stew, actually, to experience firsthand.