Brighton group The New Eves have joined the ranks of Slow Dance and Broadside Hacks Recordings for the release of their first official single, ‘Original Sin’.
Having already earned a coveted spot on Slow Dance’s annual compilation earlier this year with B-side ‘Mother’, their new track does its best to bottle the essence of the live performances the band have received great acclaim for over the past few months. Despite a five-minute runtime, the song breezes by with its free-spirited and raw approach to songcraft without sacrificing any of the elements crucial to rendering a song a delight to listen to.
Plenty of pressure is often placed on bands to be as original as possible, and while the influences that The New Eves appear to draw on are easily traced back to the heyday of psychedelic rock and proto-punk, there’s still plenty about ‘Original Sin’ that feels as though it belongs in the modern era. As far as their influences go, there’s a resemblance to The Velvet Underground in the way they let a simple structure and melody gradually unravel, not to mention drummer Ella Russell’s preference for standing whilst performing à la Maureen Tucker. Meanwhile, Nina Winder-Lind’s vocals recall the quirks of Tom Verlaine, Grace Slick and Patti Smith all bundled into one warbled package, culminating in a delivery that feels bold alongside the minimalism of the tune that underpins it.
The true standout feature of the track however is the lyricism that Winder-Lind offers, telling a tale that borrows from biblical and archaic themes while our narrator applies them to their notion of what is considered sinful. This world in which they abandon the ‘saints who gamble with demons’ and throw away their ‘fading halo’ is so perfectly painted, and the way they seemingly long for the way things used to be ties in nicely with the freedom they find in their music.
As group wails and increasingly frantic guitars and violin pierce through the calm towards the end of the song, we see how The New Eves can also take things up a gear and showcases how they excel in matching folksy undertones with a fearsome punk energy. It’s for all the above that this track stands out, and exactly why whatever The New Eves have lined up next will be equally as remarkable.
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