Monday, February 21, 2011

You just don't see the beauty in anything



Norwegian duo Eva & the Heartmaker have solidified their place in the exciting artists roster with their recent work. Last spring's "Mr. Tokyo" was a charming, fragile introduction to the new electronic-friendly sound of their third album era, but it's with "Signals" that they truly arrived. One of the best singles of the past six months, it's a sweet, infectiously upbeat track with pop-ified Van Halen synths. Stream it here or in the above video.

04 Gone In a Flash by poppostergirl

There's nothing to rival the instant joy of "Signals" on their new album, Dominoes, but that would be a tall order to fill. The great title track has a similarly well-constructed uptempo instrumental but this time with more regretful vocals from singer Eva Skram. It might work better as a whole than the track I'm sharing today, the sashaying "Gone In A Flash," but please forgive my indulgence: "Gone In A Flash" has me fascinated at the moment. Picture male light rock from the '80s sung by a modern girl group that segues into "I Feel Love" before switching back to the '80s for a hard rock guitar solo. All without blinking an eye. It's mildly crazy, except the whole thing is done with such smooth ease that you find yourself thinking "of course, why wouldn't a Norwegian husband-and-wife indie-pop duo meld Hall & Oates, Donna Summer, and Van Halen?" As with the rest of the album, though, even when the group is flirting shamelessly with the '70s and especially the '80s, they make it sound thoroughly modern with their slick arrangements and production.

Edit: one day later, the group has debuted the music video for "Gone In A Flash." Apparently it's the next single!

The third album from Eva & the Heartmaker, Dominoes, can be purchased here (physical). At eight tracks, it's short but sweet.

5 comments:

Damian said...

Eva & the Heartmaker are sort of Alphabeat/Le Kid wonders pop-community loves but you never know how much it'll take for them to make big breakthrough. However it's great we have them and I love 80s atmosphere of this song! Don't middle-eight and guitars in the end sound crazy good?

Poster Girl said...

YES! I love that middle eight and then the guitars--there haven't been many modern extended guitar solos I've truly loved, but this one qualifies totally and completely.

I hope all these groups manage to find enough success in their home countries to keep going--I'd like to think there's room for pop groups with medium levels of success in one country to survive. There has to be a way to make a sustainable pop career that doesn't involve top five hits all the time, let alone international success. Eva & the Heartmaker seem to have been doing well in this era, so as long as they have enough money to keep going and enough success to encourage them to keep making music, I'll be happy :)

Myfizzypop said...

i'm besotted with Signals and i'm awaiting the arrival of the album :) (physical). I do find them quite charming and I agree with what you and Damian say about their levels of success... And although their music is somewhat different they do make me yearn for a new Music Go Music album!!

Poster Girl said...

Paul, I hope you do a review of the album (if you feel so moved)--I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

I really need to investigate Music Go Music more. "Light Of Love" is great, but somehow I've never taken the time to really get to know them.

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