Friday 21 January 2011

Esben & The Witch - Warpath

Our last blog of the week is a short heads up for the new Esben & The Witch video – Warpath. The band has come a long way since we first saw them supporting Fight Like Apes in an empty basement back in November 2008 and their debut appearance on the blog in July 2009. Their placement on the BBC Sound of 2011 long-list was utter justification for the list – where else would you get that level of mass media exposure for a group who make such an uneasy, chilling, scouring but not necessarily disagreeable racket?

In that first write up of the band in 2009 we described them as ‘like a cobweb covered Portishead’ and whilst Warpath is far more guitar laden than anything Portishead ever did, it has that same unsettling atmosphere and let’s give ourselves a pat on the back here - the band themselves are covered in cobwebs in the video! Ker-ching.

The band hail from Breaking More Waves neighbouring city Brighton – a place probably better known for indie and dance influenced bands than something as gothic and disturbing as Esben & The Witch. Yet it shows that despite the city having had a number of music venue closures over the last few years, its musical output remains healthy in terms of creativity and diversity.

The band will play an album launch show in Brighton on the 1st February and whilst this blog no longer carries live reviews, we’ll do our best to tweet about the gig whilst we’re there. Follow us here if you like that kind of thing.

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