With a stellar bounce that seems to play out in slow-motion, despite the urgency in the drumbeat behind it, the first few strands of a melody that we find at the onset of “Brightside” are incontrovertibly as stunning as any that we’ll find in the new EP from Chords of Eve, Dear Engineer, but while these opening bars are boldly colorful and enticing, they represent but a sliver of the magic this upcoming spring record is boasting. Chords of Eve are, essentially, bringing psychedelia out of its 1960’s past and giving it a digital makeover complete with electropop charms that wouldn’t have been possible a half-century ago here, but to say that their formula is rooted in throwback aesthetics would hardly be true.
Dear Engineer’s title track, as well as “The Future’s Not What It Used To Be” and “Evelyn,” have a multidimensionality in the vein of Massive Attack that I’ve heard a lot of different acts trying to experiment with in the last five years or so, but very few have applied it as uniquely and originally as Chords of Eve are in these instances. This is an exceptionally surreal record, but as mind-bending as it gets in certain junctures, it never feels excessive in any of key instrumental departments.
ABOUT CHORDS OF EVE: https://skytitanmedia.com/chords-of-eve
I love the way that “Brightside,” the lead single from Dear Engineer,” the title track and “Rebuild Ourselves Tonight” were mixed, and though “Evelyn” and “The Future’s Not What It Used To Be” also have sterling production values, these three song exhibit an attention to detail that I would really love for this band to continue to expand upon in the future. Organic physicality is left alone here, and we never have to sift through any additionally imposed fat where none was needed to begin with just to find the core rhythm of a particular track.
The vocals are powerful throughout all five songs in this EP, but in “Rebuild Ourselves Tonight,” I think we find it at its most exposed, vulnerable and bonded to the substance of the instrumental melodies in the backdrop. There’s a moodiness the serenade in this track affords the lyrics that wouldn’t have been present were a different singer charged with dispensing the lyrics here, and when you factor in the immense chemistry between the other players in the band, we end up with a sonic tour de force that rivals some of the best out of the underground right now (if not the mainstream as well).
If you’re as big a fan of experimental pop with a heavy psychedelic edge as I am, Chords of Eve’s Dear Engineer is a profound indie effort that belongs on your stereo this coming April for sure. There’s something for everyone in this extended play – club-level grooves, powerfully emotional lyricism and even a semi-virtuosic compositional style that has the potential to grow into something really cratering if cultivated properly – and though it isn’t the only underground release that I would recommend picking up this spring, it’s easily one of the best rookie EPs I’ve heard all year long.
Levi Colston