As it has been of our general knowledge, every city has a soul of its own, a solace, a haven. Every corner is indeed permeated by every memory and experience that forges each part of our beings. Maybe this is how music is born.
The city that now shows how its heart pounds and rises its voice is Sheffield, and its statement comes stringed with four hearts better known as The Don Genes, oblONG, Black Cat White Cat and Michael Eden, and the word that touched my mind after listening to this mini compilation is: Freedom.
This is indeed a show of talents, sorted in a manner as to make your soul take off and move slowly to the rhythm of every style in the city.
The Don Genes delivers a strong personality, silky vocals surrounded by a dark chamber made by ambient effects, echoed guitars and a constant, deep bass, followed by a moment marked by jamming, where all elements converge by chaos. The track is called ‘June July’.
In the middle of this misty atmosphere, an amazing female voice takes the floor and brings a little light to this chamber, and little by little it takes every inch of it. A guitar riff that starts stretching its arms and receives an answer from an accurate bass sound. As the track unfolds drums talk its counter sentence, but surely understand the language of the other instruments to eventually create just one line, yet presenting their free wills. A sexy, decided track to fill in your imagination and feed your hunger for liberty. This is oblONG (‘In Remission’), and this is the moment to give in.
As this compilation continues, there’s the moment of glamour and ecstasy. Black Cat White Cat invites us to step in to their world, which is indeed surrounded by female sexiness, and the other instruments following. It seems the genuine moment of touching the most spontaneous feelings inside us, those that we send to sleep sometimes. The lines the instruments have interesting peaks of jamming, as the voice follows her own rules as well. It becomes hard to explain how this track is structured, as it has its very unique body developed, more like an instinctive act (with hints of classic rock) that brings coolness, audacity and the inherent wish to listen to more tracks. I loved the band name, by the way.
Michael Eden comes forth in my imaginary stage and, after the daring side of freedom comes, the dreamy element comes too as a string of this embroidery. ‘Doors’ is the title of this track, one of those that goes to the “think about the future as something good” list, it’s the kind of sound that translate into hope, nostalgia, like the feeling of leaving the city with your bags full of memories that will last until the end. There’s an iterative acoustic guitar line that sounded to me as the complex net of moments struggling to stay. This is accompanied by ambient sounds, echoes, like the ones heard when trying to remember something. The voice just glides, and it risks touching your heart and soul so deep, so you will not forget.
Four songs become a sufficient measure to realize there’s talent in Sheffield, four strings that unite and that, for the foreign eye of course, became the story of a traveller coming to Sheffield, making the most of the city, partying, but then the moment to leave comes inexorably.
Looking forward to listening to more of this!
Michael Eden Website. Myspace. Soundcloud.
Black Cat White Cat Myspace. Reverbnation. Facebook. Twitter.
obLONG Myspace. Twitter. Facebook. Reverbnation. Spotify. Soundcloud.
Sloucher.org 