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Review: 'BERNARD + EDITH'
'Jem'   

-  Label: 'Bella Union Records'
-  Genre: 'Indie' -  Release Date: '11th May 2015'

Our Rating:
Music is a place of sanctuary, somewhere to escape to when the world won't listen. This wisdom is part of the DNA of Manchester-based electro-pop duo Greta 'Edith' Carroll and Nick 'Bernard' Delap.

This couple are still only in their early twenties but their debut album demonstrates a level of maturity that belies their relative youth. The two bonded over music after meeting at a Test Icicles gig as teenagers and combine her taste for torch song jazz singers with his thorough immersion in indie and electronica. She sings while he provides the beats.

Aside from these influences they also channel their admiration for the dreamy surrealism of David Lynch's Twin Peaks and the experimental composition of artists like Meredith Monk and Philip Glass.

Words are used as much to create swirling textures rather than to build narratives. The overall mood is that of a sensual exotica designed to evoke an other-worldly atmosphere.

Still, all the Eastern promise and studied weirdness on tracks like China and Poppy is put into a more domestic perspective when you learn that the album is actually named after Edith's pet dog!

The attractions of a life aquatic are suggested by titles such as Tidal Wave and Underwater as well as in the video to Wurds.

The closing two tracks (Girls Night Out and Young Woman) seem like fillers but the Cocteau Twins-esque grace of Crocodile and the charms of title tune lead you to think that this could be just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


  author: Martin Raybould

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BERNARD + EDITH - Jem
BERNARD + EDITH - Jem