Soeza - 7 Obstacles

by Dave Evans

Taut spindly riffing, French horns, motorik riff; an interesting collection wrought from disparate elements

"Fidgety guitars chop and change seemingly at will. Attempts to dance to it could lead to a visit to your local A&E."

With both male and female vocals, Fugazie-sque taut twisting guitar work, fluid Krautrock grooves and a French horn to boot, Soeza would appear to be in danger of over egging the pudding. Whilst, on paper so many ingredients lead one to lick one’s lips in anticipation of a feast if they’re not combined skilfully and adroitly there’s a danger of it all coming out of the oven as a big soggy mess.

The Fugazi influence is most prominent on ‘Novak’, the barked vocals serving almost as a rhythm track while the fidgety guitars chop and change seemingly at will. Attempts to dance to it could lead to a visit to your local A&E but it does, undoubtably, have the funk. Of sorts. Funkier still is leftfield stomper ‘Use Of Globes’, which despite the odd moment when the song seems to be imploding on itself (a tried and tested indie trick that only serves to make the rest of the song sound beefier), comes across like a punk band mutating into a funk band and back again, uncomfortably yet joyfully.

Jenny Robinson's vocals are deployed to best effect on ‘Foreign Board’ and ‘Silent Runners’. Softer and more soulful than Ben Owen’s anguished yelp, Soeza play things a bit safer when she’s on vocal duties. ‘Foreign Board’ itches and jerks but none too manically while ‘Silent Runner’ is the nearest thing to a traditional indie tune on this collection.

Some tracks don’t come off. Robinson and Owen share vocals to little effect on ‘Talking To The Back Of It’s Own Head’, ‘Any Road’ aims for a sly sultry feel (as well as throwing in some Bowie style vocals about cream cakes for good measure) that it never really achieves and ‘Don’t Bother Coming Home’ is simply more of the same. The majority though are infused with earnest passion and a decent sense of light and shade. The french horn, which could get as annoying as waiting for the sax solo on an old Spandau Ballet record, is deployed often but not jarringly and adds an interesting and often melancholy dimension to the sound. Perhaps best witnessed on the instrumental ‘Beauty And Brains Give Me The Edge’.

While it’s good to see this sort of stuff back in the limelight (see also Birmingham's Johnny Foreigner) the kids are probably too busy with their emo and the oldies are probably too, well, old to notice. More’s the pity.

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