Tuesday 8 November 2011

Embers - New Waves

Yesterday we read something on the internet written by a US based blogger (David Greenwald of Rawkblog) that suggested that you shouldn’t rush to post about a song and should give it due consideration - post something thoughtful about music you actually like seemed to be the advice. Now we fully understand where David is coming from; too many blogs rush to post the latest remix sent by a PR company to hundreds of bloggers, in an attempt to get listed first on Hype Machine, irrespective of quality or if they really feel passionate about the music. But we also fundamentally disagree that everything should be thoughtful. Music is like sex. It’s not always a bloody intellectual exercise – sometimes you just feel the emotion and have to go with it. You hear something, so beautiful, so incredible, so f*ckin’ noisily brilliant that you want to tell the world about it there and then. Sometimes you just want to rip each others’ clothes off and do it. Wherever you are. This is what makes blogs different from the traditional music media; the immediacy.

Sure, in the world of professional journalism there’s a place for considered analysis of music and sometimes even on a blog it makes sense to sit back and take a more reflective view. But sometimes, like we did a few hours ago, you press play and hear something so powerful, so dramatic and so hugely exciting you just HAVE to tell the world about it. It may not be well-thought out, it may not be rational or studious, it may be the heart talking rather than the head, but when it makes you jump up and go WOW, punching the air with delight and adoration, you don’t want it to be secret. As a music fan you want the world to know.

This is what we’re doing with Embers. We want you to know about them now. Their sound, from the three songs we've heard, is grandiose dramatic rock that shimmers with layers of transcendental noise sitting somewhere between the climaxes of Glasvegas and the shattering force of My Bloody Valentine. There’s even a hint of the good parts of Embrace in there somewhere. It’s incredible stuff. Tunnel Vision is the apocalyptic sound of World War III spat out of musical instruments, Without Fear or Favour verges on being some sort of religious experience and Days Turns Into Weeks takes stern pianos and synths to create a hymn of cinematic barefaced brilliance.

We could have waited a week, listened carefully and come up with a well balanced and reasoned argument as to why Embers have just become our new favourite band, but when we’re this excited about such an incredible noise we want as many people as possible to know as quickly as possible. Why delay something that could make a lot of people very happy?

Someone put this lot in a massive studio and give them the production and recording weight they deserve please.

This is Embers. Embers are four people from Manchester. They write music like this.

Without Fear or Favour

Tunnel Vision

1 comment:

Jack said...

This is brutal stuff. Wonderful.