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ELIZABETH S. Gather Love
Elizabeth S., long time contributor/performer with duo Eyeless In Gaza is about to release her first solo album. Happy in the past to remain on the sidelines with her collaborations she is now ready to reveal some of her story. These songs are her personal journey through many stormy years and the development of this work was many years in the making. All the songs were written, performed and produced by her with the only additional contributions being made by Martyn Bates and Alan Trench. In a recent review (www.bigbeautifulnoise.com) Lee Henderson wrote that her work extends from an almost mournful reminiscence to ethereal portraits and symbolic aural illustrations. Elizabeth S. has an approach that combines electronic treatments while having a tight grasp on her early British folk beginnings: this in-depth collection is a beacon on dark and intensely stormy years and yet it still offers a warm invitation to inspire hope and goodness to the human race. Consisting of twelve tracks of such an intimate autobiographical diary this body of work leaves the listener with no doubt that we have been allowed into a very private space inhabited by most of us at some point in our lives - with Elizabeth’s music gently moving from the tender to the abstract, all the while staying firmly rooted within a range of sparse musical arrangements. Elizabeth S. has been likened to a curious hybrid of Dolly Collins, June Tabor, Laurie Anderson and Kate Westbrook – but, it is truly difficult to label her music, and this is a task that we leave to the listener. Full tracklist: 1. Misborn 2. Will Your Love 3. The Carer 4. The Carter Girl 5. Weathered Life 6. Measured Greed 7. The Hill 8. The Long Farewell 9. Wanderlove 10. Gather Love 11. No Rain 12. To. Price: € 18,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.
A clever mixture of ancient and contemporary traditions there is a beauty to be found within these simultaneously haunting yet tender works. The songs bounce off each other resulting in a world that is distinctly her own. Lyrics have a fragmented poetry to them, recalling a little bit of Sam Prekops abstract wordplay. By keeping the vocals right in the center of it all they delve into something that has a serenity of sorts to it.
(Beach Sloth, October 2021)
Its an alluring set of left-of-the-dial folk with outbreaks of avant, and largely distinct from Eyeless In Gaza soundwise, although Becker and Bates feature on groovy DIY industrial number No Rain. Opening with Misborns sawing, clattering discord, a sort of calm descends thereafter, plaintive keyboards meeting minimalist acoustics and Elizabeths voice: cracked and haunted, like a centurion mourning her best years as she reads her telegram from the Queen, and often double-tracked to up the confounding factor.
(The Quietus, October 2021)
Habité de fantômes et du temps laissé derrière elle, l artiste fend l espace de sa voix gorgée de tristesse et de tremblements spectraux, enrobée de mélodica, de field recordings, de percussions lo-fi, de pianos étéhrées et d électronique brumeuse, donnant vie à un univers pris dans un no mans land aux lumières rasantes.
(Silence And Sound, October 2021)
.....starts on a dark, brooding and well haunted PostPunk tip driven by distorted guitars and heavy feedbacks alongside highly expressive vocals on the aptly titled Misborn only to make a sudden turn towards more folksy territories in the semi-acoustic cut Will Your Love which surely is influenced by the artists works with and for Eyeless In Gaza over the past decades. (...) One for cold and dark winter nights, this.
(Nitestylez, October 2021)
Other reviewers have mentioned several names in comparison, but the only one I can see that is relevant is Laurie Anderson, more for her layers and loops than any vocal similarities. Diamanda Galas might be another point of reference, simply based on the dark mood which seems to inform the music and packaging, but Elizabeth S is very much an original. Imagine traditional folk reinvented, imagine overhearing musical fragments blown towards you on the wind from a distant festival or celebration, imagine echoes and overlays, imagine what storm clouds parting for the sun sound like, as distant thunder fades away. This is what Gather Love sounds like to me.
(International Times, October 2021)
I am quite taken by Gather Love, it gristles plenty of soul both in narrative and sonic surrounds, and even when clattering in the machined percussives of No Rai”, its splashing something seriously spectral. Theres an otherworldly connection that continues to smile back at you on To in violin detunes and miraging shards, a mournful reflection of things gone, coming and ultimately slipping away.
(Freq Magazine, November 2021)
Su un tappeto di elettronica disturbata, l agonizzante opener Misborn detta tempi e modi, vagando allucinata tra vocalizzi espressionisti, digradanti nell arpeggio di chitarra in minore della successiva Will your love; intimo e garbato, l album conserva intatta una grazia composta ed elegante che si insinua – talvolta infida, spesso conciliante – tra le maglie di brani essenziali arricchiti sia da una buona produzione sia da arrangiamenti che privilegiano atmosfere tra il confessionale (The long farewell) e l’irrequieto (The carer, su una dilatazione à la Talk Talk).
(Music Map, November 2021)
Schon die ersten beiden Tracks ihres vor kurzem erschienenen Debüts Gather Love geben jedoch bereits eine Vorstellung von der enorm aufwühlenden Emotionalität, die sich in unterschiedlichen Facetten durch das ganze Werk zieht. (...) Die zwölf Stücke, in denen die oftmals verschwimmenden Klänge von Gitarre, Piano, Melodica, dezenter Elektronik und Streichern den Sound prägen, drehen sich immer wieder um Themen des Verlusts und des Vermissens und strahlen dabei eine große Zärtlichkeit aus, die mehr als alles andere die Wertschätzung des Verlorenen deutlich macht.
(African Paper, November 2021)
Zaujme už samotný autorčin vokál. Křehký, tu a tam mírně rozkolísaný, často využívající vibrato. Většina skladeb kolekce Gather Love je o dialogu jednoho či dvou nástrojů a hlasu. Mezi instrumenty se vystřídají klávesové nástroje, akustická kytara, melodika nebo různé smyčky. Díky častému užití echa můžeme mít pocit, že se s autorkou nacházíme v nějaké klenuté velké místnosti. Hudebně nejsme daleko od světa Eyeless In Gaza, zvláště když se ozve typická melodika. Debutová deska je celkově velmi příjemné překvapení. Elizabeth S. sebevědomě vystoupila ze stínu kapely, které tak dlouho sama pomáhá. A i když její sólová tvorba na dědictví Eyeless In Gaza navazuje, díky vlastnímu charismatu není v jeho vleku.
(His Voice, November 2021)
Nous retenons de Gather Love une forme de désespoir innocent renvoyant à un certain répertoire introspectif des seventies. Elizabeth place son mal-être avec grâce. L ensemble reste majoritairement avant-gardiste, mais ne lasse pas. La musique est dépouillée, fonçant parfois dans le registre atmosphérique. L Anglaise est une conteuse et parvient efficacement à entraîner l auditeur dans son univers en clair-obscur.
(Obsküre, November 2021)
Mit einem Timbre halbwegs zwischen Baby Dee, David Tibet, Steve Day, zu Musik zwischen Bill Orcutt bei Misborn gleich als donnerndem Einstieg, melancholischem Neofolk und der Emphase von Current 93. Mit The Carter Girl ist sie ganz nah beim alten Johnny Cash,
(Bad Alchemy, November 2021)
Musikalisch bewegt sich das Album irgendwo zwischen Diamanda Galas, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson und ein wenig Lydia Lunch, manchmal introvertiert und akustisch instrumentiert, dann wieder direkt und energetisch und ab und zu mit viel Theatralik.
(Ox, December 2021)
Album Gather Love kaže delno zaslombo na zapuščino Eyeless In Gaza, nenazadnje jo s klaviaturami in spremljevalnim petjem vzpodbuja prav Martyn Bates, a Elizabeth zavije tudi po svoje. Že uvodna Misborn je podprta z industrijskim zvenom in zadušenim predirnim petjem. Kmalu se Elizabeth navidezno umiri, prevzame oblike angleškega folka z močnim mističnim in skoraj darkerskim podtonom. Očitno so besedila nastala pred glasbo, kajti dokaj svobodno jih interpretira, poje mimo glasbene podlage. Poudarki stalno krožijo, izogibajo se običajni dinamiki in dramaturgiji pesmi. Kar vse kaže na izpostavljeno avtonomno avtorsko držo, samo na daleč ima kaj skupnega z nekaterimi sodobnimi avtoricami, Circuit Des Yeux na primer.
(Rock Orobje, December 2021)
Gather Love ist ein wunderbares Werk, perfekt instrumentiert und genau aufeinander abgestimmt. Die Künstlerin schert sich nicht um irgendwelche Konventionen oder Erwartungen, sondern hat zwölf Stücke pures Gefühl in die Klänge umgesetzt, die eben diese Gefühle eins zu eins in Klang darbieten. Nach Referenzpunkten gefragt fallen mir die ruhigen und experimentellen Stücke von Talk Talk, This Mortal Coil, Tuxedomoon und Current 93 ein. (...) Ich lege mich fest: hier haben wir das beste Neofolk-/Avantgarde-Album des Jahres – vielleicht sogar der letzten Jahre.
(Musik an sich, December 2021)
Arranca este álbum con distorsionadas guitarras y pesadas baterías, lo que parecía presagiar que el disco fuera estruendoso, sin embargo Elizabeth S. con el tono oscuro de sus canciones nos deja entrar en su espacio íntimo, a través de canciones folk que me hace recordar a Rose McDowall, colaboradora en Current 93.
(Loop, December 2021)
Folk albionico disperato/disperante, che si avvolge nel caos, per poi lasciarsi trasportar dalle nubi, verso un tiepido sole che rischiara livide distese desertico/detritiche.
Prima uscita solista per Elizabeth S., spesso e volentieri nel corso del tempo, con Eyeless In Gaza e con Martyn Bates ed Alan Trench nel progetto Twelve Thousand Days (e chi vuol capire capisce).
Dal caos e immondizia ad una tremolante luce che sfrigola di attrito, con glaciale grazia, fra Nico e Laurie Anderson, mentre la notte cala tutta attorno.
Tra aperture orchestrali, silenzi trafitti di harmonium, fisarmoniche e qualche accenno di pagane danze campestri.
Un intimo diario dalle pagine ingiallite, stretto al petto mentre si procede in una lenta caduta.
(Kathodik, January 2022)
L étendue de son travail va d une réminiscence presque endeuillée à des portraits éthérés, en passant par des illustrations sonores symboliques. Avec un hameçon profondément ancré dans le folk britannique traditionnel et un flottement sur des traitements électroniques modernes, des parfums floraux de sourire, cette collection approfondie est un phare sur les mers sombres et orageuses.
(No BS, February 2022)
Ze kiest voor een sohere
muzikale omlijsting waarin haar
vroegste to karen samenkomen ma:
allerlei elektronisch vervormde
geluiden, die als ondersteuning die-
nen voor haar autobiografische tek-
sten die ze op indringende wijze
declameert. Vergelijkingspunten met
andere artiesten zijn er nauwelijks,
tenzij we kijken naar het beste en
meest tot de verbeelding sprekende
werk van Eyeless In Gaza zelf.
(Gonzo Circus, March 2022)
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