Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 07:22 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Alternative, Post rock
Country: Greece
Label: Ván Records
Year: 2014
The process of listening to a release by Universe217 is usually a lot like the well-known scene from comics, where an anvil that weights a thousand tons falls on some poor cartoon’s head (with Universe217’s music being the anvil and the listener being the cartoon). Up to now, the only exception was their split release with Super Puma on which they showed us a different side from the one we knew.
That is the side which they develop and bring out on the recently released “Ease”, a semi acoustic EP. The doom element is absent. The acoustic guitars have taken the place of the dark and leveling riffs. The claustrophobic atmosphere that their songs usually create has been replaced by a more chilled out (by their standards) mood. But some things never change.
Once more their music is intense and emotionally-charged and once more Tanya’s vocal performance is astonishing. That is the reason why “Ease”, although it is different from their previous releases, sounds so familiar. The fact that they experimented with a different sound than the one we are used to listen from them, makes the final outcome even more… Universe217. And that’s because experimentation was always a big part of their music and one of the main reasons that they have always stood out from the rest of the bands of their genre (if there is one that can contain them).
One last thing. Without wanting to underestimate the value of the other three songs, I would like to refer to the title track. I think that it’s one of the best songs this band has ever written and it may easily become a reason for people that have always found Universe217’s music too “difficult to digest” to start listening to the band’s music. Just one question/complaint. Why is this song so short? I mean, four minutes just ain’t enough for such a beautiful song. One day, as I was listening to “Ease” on repeat it finally hit me… This was their cunning plan all along. You listen to it, it’s not enough, you listen to it again and so on (since I used a comics metaphor above, this is the part where the super villain laughs wickedly). They deserve your time and attention and I’m not saying this because they’re Greek but because they’re an amazing band.
4,5/6
