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Reviews

Chiromancer — Guilty Pleasure
(Bandcamp no#, 2020, DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2022-02-27

Guilty Pleasure Cover art

Chiromancer is one of those musical gems of a band that sounds great while sounding like no one else. As a keyboard and drums duo, you might expect a sparse sound on the mellow side, but their music is full, edgy, and packed with surprises. Evelyn Davis (no relation that I’m aware of) plays keyboards and sings, and she’s worked with Cheer-Accident, Fred Frith, and others in experimental music. Drummer Charlie Werber is in the bands Guzzlemug and Murmur, neither of which I’m familiar with, and Lovely Little Girls, with which I am somewhat acquainted. Both of them have also worked with Sacha Mullin, whose Duplex I reviewed a while ago. The keyboard sounds are very full, filling out the arrangements enough that other instruments aren’t missed. It’s possible that Davis overdubbed some of the bass lines, as it sometimes sounds like more than two hands were involved, but that could be the result of skillful arrangement and instrument programming. Most of the time, what you hear resembles an overdriven electric piano more than anything else, but the six songs differ from each other enough that it doesn’t get old. Her voice is strikingly original and flexible, ranging off on all sorts of fanciful flights. One of the best tracks is “Blood for Lust,” which starts out delicately but builds into a powerful piece with throbbing bass notes and fluid runs of distorted notes above while the vocals jump around nimbly. Werber’s drum patterns are endlessly inventive, putting accents into unexpected places and using the kit in unconventional ways deviating from the standard alternation of kick and snare, placing toms and hi-hat notes in clever places. Chiromancer is a very creative band whose style is unlike anyone else, blending chaos and order into a fascinating sound.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Chiromancer

More info
http://chiromancerofficial.bandcamp.com/album/guilty-pleasure

 

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