Internal Radio

オランダ / クロアチア人シンガーソングライターMARINATADICによるインディーポップ・ソロ・プロジェクトEERIE WANDAが、JOYFUL NOISERECORDINGSより放つニューアルバム!
これまでのギターポップ・サウンドに加え、よりエクスペリメンタルに、シリアスな大人の作品に仕上がっています。COCTEAU TWINS、JULEECRUISE、YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS、THE PASTELS、MAZZY STAR好きは是非!プロデュースはKRAMER (GALAXIE 500)によるもの。

Internal Radio, the third Eerie Wanda album, is something of a departure for the project. No longer a band as such, this time singer/songwriter Marina Tadic takes full control and steps away from the sparse, sweet, and nearly twee sound of the past in favor of something darker and moodier. Working with Adam Harding, her partner in the grunge revival band Kidbug, and legendary producer Kramer, Tadic sought to write songs that plumbed the depth of her feelings instead of writing lyrics that were more observational. She also worked to make every song stand alone sonically, sharing a core of Twin Peaks-ian grandeur, but taking care to give each one a special arrangement that matched the themes of the words. All her attention to detail and heavy emotional lifting results in a record that is painfully pretty, well-constructed, and honest to the core. Its clear from the opening "Sail to the Silver Sun" -- a darkly repetitive, piano-led ballad that features Tadics vocal harmonies swirling like a spooky lullaby paired with chunky power chords -- that they were looking to stretch the parameters of Eerie Wanda, and they do a fair amount of that throughout. "NOWx1000" adds synth washes, "On Heaven" turns the 1950s influence of earlier records inside out like its being reflected in a funhouse mirror, "Birds Arent Real" features swarms of hovering, echoing guitars that flicker and swoop in shoegaze-meets-dub fashion, and "Bon Voyage" ends the record with warped and overlapping guitar loops. Most of the rest of the album drifts on a soft cloud of gently struck pianos, clouds of reverb, and Tadics hummingbird-light vocals. "Sister Take My Hand" is the best of the lot, featuring her otherworldly harmonies twined over a steady heartbeat-like drumbeat and far-off synths. If this were an audition to be included on a future This Mortal Coil album, she no doubt would be getting the call soon. Its not all murky melancholy, though; a couple songs have some of the lightness of previous albums. The almost bouncy "Long Time" sounds like a Paris Sisters single, only with the sisters replaced by ghosts, and "Puzzled" is a nice moment of spare crackle and pop that would have been the saddest song on Pet Town. Its nice when an artist can match their lofty ambitions with sterling results, and Tadic does that and more on Internal Radio. The first two Eerie Wanda records were delightful diversions that were nice in the way that looking at photos of mid-modern architecture or old cars is: nostalgic and sweet. With this album, there is some real emotional foundation beneath the retro sounds, songs that will stop one in their tracks, and overall, a sense that one has wandered into a place thats familiar, but strange and worthy of investigation. ~ Tim Sendra