The latest ltd Salvia 7" is by Newcastle 4 piece The Eye Jab. 'Who Still Believe In Love' is an accomplished slice of dreamy alternative pop. I'm ever so slightly reminded of Sigur Ros with that dreamy element although not as epic and pompous sounding. This really wears its heart on its sleeve. Brian has just hovered over to me to mention that it sounds like Maps and his assessment is correct although it's more acoustic and less synth pop orientated. Yowzers...
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What their label says...
"Everyone has their bands that they listen to religiously, the sort of bands that speak to them like no one else can… that's what we're aiming for."
That's a bold statement to make for any band but for Newcastle quintet The Eye Jab it's one that's steeped in honest ambition. Formed little over a year ago, the group set out to avoid the angular pop scene that the north east has become famous for, preferring instead to sit in their tiny rehearsal space and write songs about girls they fancied at primary school. Still in their early twenties, the group channel the midnight tones of The Smashing Pumpkins and the urgency of Arcade Fire to produce beautifully understated epics that find nimble piano lines paired with intricate rhythm work. Producing pop on a grand scale, The Eye Jab have a knack of milking drama from their small-town dissatisfaction and turning them into soaring odes to lost-love that often outrun the five-minute mark. Of course, any band which produces glacial pop on the scale of Sigur Rós, while squeezing in lyrical references to Greggs pasties, deserves plaudits for brazen incongruity alone. The group's debut single, Who Sill Believe In Love, is a touching exploration of what love really means in a world seemingly obsessed with cheap fumbles in the dark, whereas flipside Alison is about the once popular girl in school who has since settled for a life of begging in bakery doorways. With a knack for being able pack a million ideas into each of their songs without ever sounding bloated, The Eye Jab are surely next in line to inherit the alternative pop crown of any band you'd care to mention. Andrew Fenwick
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