Red Mecca - You Were Never Here

Naming your project after a cult Cabaret Voltaire album is a pretty daring move, as it sets expectations high for something genuinely creative. The band themselves made their first move towards enigmatic obscurity by providing their press pack in the Swedish language only. I guess I could have asked Patrik to translate it, but as he's busy with the site rework I turned to Google Translate, which gave me enough knowledge to properly review their work.

The bands imagery focuses on singer Frida Madeleine (with musical maestro Jan Strandqvist very much in the background) standing in desolate locations, an image highly befitting the opening track "Overlord" - nine minutes of echoed drum hits and intense synth growls set to a disconcerting chord progressing. Listened to on iPod, it doesn't amount to much, but played through a decent soundsystem (yes, some of us still value such things) and it's intended purpose is clear.

The first actual song (and hence first significant appearance from Frida) is on "I Will Disappear", and as a kind of uptempo darkwave pop, it works well. Imagine Cocteau Twins remixes by middle-era Project Pitchfork and you'll get the approximate idea about what this one's trying to do. The song does lack a real hook, and the vocals are a little deep in the mix for what is the lead single of the collection, but the atmosphere is certainly there.

"Pictures" is slow and (possibly as a result) this time gets the vocal mix spot on. The slow, grinding rhythm is a valid counterpoint to Frida's airy, ethereal tones. I did start to fear for my continued interest a few minutes in, but there a proggy synth solo arises out of nowhere to provide the necessary earworm needed to keep my attention. This is something "Waiting" never achieves, noisy drumming and over-repetitive musical devices consigning this one to filler status.

"Love And Hate" is probably the most club-friendly track on here, with the usual up-tempo beat and throbbing synth combo heard in this overall genre reinforced by vocal contributions that really cut through the mix. The production style isn't far off the favoured style of fellow Swedish act Covenant, and yes, all concerned should take that as a compliment.

Ending the sextet is "I C", which is for the most part a shimmering constant in the high frequencies, ominous bass rumbling at the lower end, before breaking into a tune of sorts for the final minute and a half. Valid experiment, but not one rewarding of repeat listens. The EP as a whole is a decent effort though, and it does serve a purpose in terms of devised something original in the whole 'heavenly voice with dark synths' genre which had previously thought to be exhausted of any further development potential. Oct 19 2013