Echo Trails - New Single and video plus Album Ode To The Familiar Strangers’
Echo Trails - New Single and video plus Album Ode To The Familiar Strangers’
5-piece genre-bridging band, Echo Trails, are purveyors of sophisticated gypsy-folk drawing from a range of musical influences as well as their different cultural backgrounds - Jazz, Greek, Eastern European and domestic all included. Their self-produced debut album ‘Ode To The Familiar Strangers’ is released June 2nd 2014, preceded by the single ‘All About The Cloudless Skies’ out May 5th.
Based in London via Cambridge, Echo Trails’ off-kilter music is fortified with bohemian undertones and just enough pop sensibilities to keep the masses intrigued. ‘Ode To The Familiar Strangers’ is a musical amalgamation, offering a peep into the minds of its individual band members, doffing its Fez to the progressive, psychedelic and experimental worlds. Comparisons range from Arcade Fire, Dresden Dolls and Gogol Bordello to Katzenjammer, yet the band have long given up trying to pinpoint what their genre is.
“There was never a conscious decision to fit into a particular sound, we just play what we feel and enjoy the various genres thrown back at us” - Jules, Viola
The album’s deviant soul-searching lyrics and provocative wordplay are courtesy of lead singer Dimitra Tzanakaki, set to a backdrop of indulgent digressions and otherworldly middle 8s, drifting off down the rabbit hole and taking the listener with them.
Echo Trails have earned a feverish following in a relatively short existence due to their 'Familiar Strangers' fanbase, accrued via countless live shows - the improvisational nature of which always ensures you never know quite what you’ll hear next. The full band are: Dimitra on lead vocals and piano Echo Trails - New Single and video plus Album Ode To The Familiar Strangers’, Jules on viola, Peter on drums and percussion, Andrew on guitars and Iakovos on double bass.
Opening track and lead single, ‘All About The Cloudless Skies’ out May 5th 2014, is a sweeping theatrical number cut to dramatic vocals and a petulant Balkan strut, then ‘Weightless’ points to the bands’ love of improvisation - delving into an Alice in Wonderland-style tangent. An undeniable highlight is title track ‘Ode To A Familiar Stranger’ – the first song the band played together, is a storytelling gem that transports you into the shoes of Leini, Dimitra’s alter ego; then the opulent instrumentation of ‘Hazy Horizons’ hits you like an opium-laced chai latte.
‘Love Me and Leave Me’ is sorrowful wine-drenched blues, giving light to some rare restraint by the band, whereas ‘Boogie Man’ showcases a wonderful disregard for it – a twisted cabaret waltz, with sinister nuances. The journey ends on a roller coaster ride with the aptly titled ‘The Neurotic Episodic’ a tragic but OTT pop arrangement, weaving near silence with frantic composition in a split second.
The album marries hushed prose with passionate fury and despite its array of geographical influences, retains a distinctly British feel. The resulting LP is 8 tracks of a solid trademark sound that remains uniquely and identifiably ‘Echo Trails’. Sit back, take the red pill, and become a Familiar Stranger...
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