Monday, March 2, 2015

'Birds' by Wrathschild EP Review

Wrathschild are the duo made of pop extraordinaire Simon Curtis and his partner in crime Wolfy. They made their debut last year and instantly became my favorite new act of the year with their signature brand of pop, and they're furthering their brand with a new age cosmic sound that stands out among the generic pop bops out there today.

Beginning the Birds EP is the duo's debut single 'Fall Into Love' and how could it possibly get better than this? This is still one of the best songs of 2014, and hearing it here again, remastered, are what dreams are made of. It brings in the retro synth pop and gets the heart racing for what's to come.

'Phoenix' is our first venture into the cosmo pop aspect of the record as Wolfy begins crooning over this dancefloor smasher that is giving me some serious Cascada teas before the bass bumps and we get a hint of dubstep. Their voices are distorted, but it's all about the beat.

Then we move into 'Everest' which is one of my favorites. Wolfy takes the lead here as the song slowly builds and builds until almost a minute and a half in a raging Euro-pop beat hits hard and gets the adrenaline pumping. Then Simon comes in and it's off to the races as the song ebbs and flows.

'Mars' reminds me the most of Simon's solo material, that robo techo pop with a hard edge sound. Once the song hits the chorus the duo's voices dance together with the effervescent cosmic pop beats swirling around them. The second verse where Simon takes over is particularly memorable.

The title track, 'Birds', is perhaps the most experimental especially with that chorus. After an intense build, Wolfy utters "if we were birds" and then the whole beat drops out as if we were just sucked into a black hole, but then their celestial voices bring us back into the cosmos. The chorus is like a magic chant and it's all so devilishly perfect.

Following this is the LA. love song 'Angeles'. It sits quite comfortably in between the other tracks and is still a gorgeous piece of music.

Rounding out the EP is the instantly iconic 'Cosmonaut'. Wolfy shows off her rapping skills over the ethereal cosmic beat, and then the song features a gorgeous spoken word segment from Simon's boyfriend Jordie Caskey. His seductive voice leads us into the catchy chorus before Simon comes in over the R&B-twinged beat. It's gorgeous and the perfect ending to a perfect EP.

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