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Euphoria

by

Insides

 
Euphoria
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Avg: 3.5 (30 ratings)

Don't let the luscious dream pop fool you, Insides is not your normal 4AD fare.

  • We Say...

    On first listen, Euphoria seems to burrow cosily inside the 4AD nest. Luscious flakes of delayed guitar are sprinkled like stardust over breathy, intimate vocals; it's engaging, but no less than expected. Yet to characterise Kirsty Yates and Julian Tardo's 1993 release as standard label fare is to be easily deceived. In fact, the duo were looking forward, hazily pre-empting both the sugar and spite of Black Box Recorder and icy Portishead-chic.

    Supposedly an on/off/on-again couple, Yates and Tardo appear to have harnessed this discord during Euphoria's recording. Further, they seem to have positively revelled in it. Tardo's programmed drums oscillate between butterfly-wing delicacy and the sound of someone inverting a plastic lid and snapping it back into shape. It's an appropriate platform for the band's duality of purpose: glorious distraction through blissful resonance, as unseen weapons make tiny cuts.

    This tension is ever-present — an ongoing conflict between soft tones and sharp words. When Yates muses "how long before I'm dead below the waist?" ("Skin Divers"), she could be reading rates from an insurance pamphlet. Though when the pointed observation "I hate lovers/ I hate the way they go to the bathroom/ In shifts/ After they've fucked" ("Darling Effect") falls from her lips, it does so in glistening fragments. Sweetened by a cascade of shimmering notes, it could drift by the casual listener without a trace.

  • They Say...

    Insides' elusive and icy electronic pop explores the darkest, seamiest corners of love and sex -- their songs capture the emptiness and hostility that surface when the afterglow fades, ugly scenes punctuated by eruptions of violence, waves of self-loathing and caresses that are cold to the touch. Singer/bassist Kirsty Yates' vocals are eerily dispassionate, detailing her sordid tales of physical intimacy and emotional distance with alarming candor -- songs like "Darling Effect," "Skin Divers" and "Skykicking" are brutally revealing, giving voice to thoughts and feelings perhaps better left unspoken. The bitter irony of the album's title aside, Euphoria is harrowing and deeply disturbing, yet strangely beautiful -- as unforgiving as it is unforgettable.

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