In Great Britain, the band from Brighton is already tipped as the next big thing. That itself isn’t surprising at all, as this seems to have degenerated into a weekly tradition for music magazines in the United Kingdom. What is surprising though is that it seems so difficult, even improper, to lift a single from this record. The song would have to be ripped out of a cosmos; the songs build the record together, feeding upon each other: Violet Cries. Rachel Davies’s spherical vocals open the doors to the soundscapes of Esben and the Witch gently, so that there’s always some tenderness added to the dark gothic sound of their debut record. This darkness and mysticalness is echoed in their name, which is of a Danish fairy tale. In the intro track, the bleak choral seems to rise slowly from the silence, just to end in a peak of ecstasy after the completed ritual on track nine – Euminides. The record does however manage to keep hold of some airiness, that reminds one more of the dreamers of Beach House than anything else. The result is an incredible cinematic bombast, hiding behind a misty curtain of sound.
Black Country, New Road
Forever Howlong
Ninja Tune