So, after this kind of longish break, I'm back to presenting you new and impressive music! This time the props go to a really young British band Blaenavon (the name is really not easy to spell and, furthermore, I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it anyway...) from Hampshire. Their music can be described as, well, what a surprise – indie rock. Yet, you know, if it was just indie rock, I won't bother listening or doing research for this article, leave alone writing it at all. Blaenavon have their own strange brand of Foals – and other British indie bands-channelling sound, always ready to lean the other way than it's expected to.
In this episode of "AeTrees Presenting..." I'll not only tell you what you ought to know about these lads who call themselves after a Welsh town, but as well give my account of their (only to date) EP, "Koso", released in 2013 via Transgressive. Just as last time, I don't want to do a full-lenght review, rather wanting to write the story of the band, as, well, they write in their Soundcloud that they are "3 boys with a story to tell", so, here you go!
Blaenavon is a three piece, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Gregory, bassist Frank Wright and drummer Harris McMillan. All three are still really young – about eighteen years old by now, but that isn't a big thing these days, I guess, as long as you manage to make your name effectively. As stated in multiple interviews, Blaenavon came to be when Benjamin Gregory was learning to play piano and his teacher suggested the bassist Frank Wright to make a full-range cover of Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" happen, what apparently needed some bass, and the drummer McMillan lived nearby and soon would join the two. Since then the band changed their name a few times, now caling themselves as they call themselves. It would be suitable to mention here that Blaenavon exemplify so really weird traits in their sometimes funny, sometimes intriguing, sometimes toe-curling interviews. As for now the band is together for about five years, slowly developing their own style, what finally made the single "Into The Night" appear in early 2013. Thunderous drums, high pitched guitars and reverbed vocals, superb guitar solo, somehow reminds me of Two Doors Cinema Club and Everything Everything. However, it already manages to blend various aspects of modern indie. That single also features "Denim Patches" is a complete anti thesis to "Into The Night" – a quite and subtle song with drums coming in only near the middle of it, leading to a Foalesque yet unexpected break with heavy drums, that promises a huge explosion, but instead is melancolic and soul-piercing. Before and after that, the band played a few shows in London as well as a bunch of shows elsewhere and somehow secured a deal with the Transgressive label for their debut EP.
The EP, titled "Koso", was released last September, featuring, however, only 4 tracks. My personal favourite and the first song by Blaenavon I've ever heard, is "Wunderkind". It slightly reminds you of Foals, but, well, goes in a different direction, evoking deep emotions with mumbled vocals and careful guitar work, accentuated drums and subtle bass, and, where Foals would probably go for a massive mess, Blaenavon go all quiet, stripping the song down to an almost a capella singing part with a few guitar touches, yet, I have to say, it is even better than you'd expect – an eerie, utterly touching piece. Besides "Wunderkind", "Koso" features the opening track "Gods", which goes like a, hmm, typically British song in the best of meanings, with haunting vocals and Foals- and Bombay Bicycle Club-channelling music, and in the end it goes slightly further that decent indie would go with the guitar getting louder and stuff heavier. Basically, except for track two, the aforementioned "Wunderkind", this one sets a direction where the whole thing is heading towards. Then – track three is "Prague" (let's go geography, may I say), which follows the Blaenavonish structure and sound, and this time goes into even more swirlling and screaming (literally) territories with heavy strumming and gigantic drums. The closer "Lost In Paris" goes in a similar direction, though being a more nostalgic take, in this- somehow reminiscent of the opening track, more bass, more drums. Benjamin Gregory sings the same words in all possible ways you could imagine it to be possible, nostalgic and warm, and if you wouldn't be informed either by their SoundCloud account photo either by some kind of reading that the band is still merely in school, you'd have to conclude it being a work of someone in their thirties to say the least, both because of the mature and deep voice of Benjamin and the relaxed, not-putting-in-too-much-stuff attitude of Blaenavon, compared to their peers or slightly older bands. Still, my personal opinion is that Blaenavon are at their best when they are slow and quiet, hence "Wunderkind". Then at least to me it feels like I've found something new and evoking, original and fresh. Other songs take more conventional paths, though aim at the best. But the conventional "indie rock" is such a vague and at the same time strict concept, that whatever bands like this come up with it is almost always bound to sink in the noisy waters of the so-called "indie rock" context. However, something gives me hope they'll not lose their path and go their own way and on their own terms. In that way, Blaenavon is really going to be a proper band. I consciously do not say "big", because, well, it is sad if you aim to be "big", but not "good". I think these three boys will be ready to tell their story one day...
Good: the nostalgic feel of "Lost in Paris", the eerie air in "Wunderkind"
Bad (sort of): the rather weird way of presenting themselves, frightening scream in "Prague"
Blaenavon:
https://www.facebook.com/blaenavonmusic
http://www.blaenavon.com/
https://soundcloud.com/blaenavon
Buy "Koso" here:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/koso-ep/id684098355
Or listen to it ad infinitum via the band's Soundcloud, that can be found here:
https://soundcloud.com/blaenavon
Some of the most, erm, interesting ever interviews by Blaenavon can be found here
