Esben And The Witch - Violet Cries

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

3...according to our Dave on Thu 27 Jan, 2011.

Brighton trio Esben & The Witch are back...and this time they've brought acres of goth tinged misery and epic love lorn balladry. I guess if I was throwing lazy genre shapes about the place, or if I was a scribe for a popular music mag (errrmmm...what's the difference?) I'd say these guys were Folk Noir. Sounds awful doesn't it? But its better than my genre idea which was Black Lace. Y'know, its all gothic and erm...lacy. Esben & The Witch have a grandiose, lavish sound that veers from stark minimalism to HUGE EPIC GOTHIC CHANTING and then back to a more softer almost Portishead type brand of electronica. They write songs that have a romantic, sometimes disturbing feel. They write songs about disease and suicide, and then they will move to heart wrenching balladry territory, with a nod to Siouxie & The Banshees and maybe even Bjork. It's all a bit poncy for me but one thing I do like about them is that their not writing "OH-OH-OH" type indie shit or crappy songs about longing after boys/girls. Its a pretty consistent album..in the sense that a song will follow another song. An interesting if flouncy slab of vinyl.

· Since self-releasing their demo-cum-EP, 33, in the Winter of 2009 and
following it up with the limited 7” and 12” releases of ‘Lucia, At The
Precipice’ and ‘Marching Song’ in 2010, the Brighton trio of Esben and the
Witch have steadily been gathering momentum towards the release of their
debut album, ‘Violet Cries’.

· Garnering interest and intrigue from even the earliest stages of their
development, Esben and the Witch have placed themselves firmly at the
vanguard of new bands who are not only lurking in the shadows, they’re
positively flourishing there. Not without reason, as they demonstrate with
Violet Cries, an uncompromising record sure to surprise with it’s stark
beauty.

· Building ‘Violet Cries’ around a dark core, the trio fiercely retained full control
to create the record they wanted to make. A band statement to fans when
announcing its release reads, “there is a boldness and a naivety to the
album and the artwork we all feel terrifically proud of and the one thing we
felt we had to maintain in this process was that it had to be new, it had to
be something which we felt had not been explored previously.”

· Engrossing themselves in their surroundings, inspirations for Violet Cries
range from the ambitious to the everyday, all of which helps to add a
dramatic bent to their sound. The previously released ‘Marching Song’ and
‘Warpath’ serve as good entry points to the textured, deep and sometimes
abrasive world they create. Layers of haunting vocals surround twitching
guitars and a driving drum beat on ‘Chorea’, whilst the reworked and
expanded version of live staple ‘Eumenides’ builds delicately to a noisy and
powerful euphoric release, hooking you in even further. The rewards over
the ten tracks are plentiful, also serving to challenge and unsettle the
listener.

· They have just returned from six weeks on the road with Foals in North
America, the latest act in an impressive list – The Big Pink, Deerhunter,
School of Seven Bells, Warpaint, Wild Beasts and The xx – that the band
have shared stages with. They finish 2010 with a short tour in Europe and
will embark on a full UK tour around the album’s release, which will be
announced soon.

· Esben And The Witch included in BBC’s Sound of 2011 Top 15. The BBC
Sound of 2011 list aims to highlight the most promising new music for the
year ahead. The artists on the list were chosen by 161 UK-based
tastemakers, who each named their favourite three new artists, with the top
15 artist making the longlist.