Solveig and Stevie Zombie Lover EP Review by Gary Hill
This EP is classy.It covers a wide range and leaves me wanting to hear more from this outfit. The sound varies from harder rocking to more progressive rock styled and classic rock influenced and it even moves into rap territory. The majority of the vocals are female, but there are some male ones, too. All in all, this is a cool set of tunes.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Zombie Lover
Hard rocking and quite cool in texture, this piece has a great pop rock vibe blended with something perhaps a bit gothic music. The chorus is catchy and the whole song is built on a great groove.
Creation
There is more of a dreamy quality to this cut and it’s almost progressive rock in a lot of ways. The vocals lend a real soulful pop type of feeling to the piece.
Keep Your Eyes on Your Heart
This is a different sound than either of the other tracks. For one thing there are prominent male vocals here. That’s a change. Also, this has a mainstream rock vibe to it. Perhaps comparisons to vintage Fleetwood Mac wouldn’t be out of the question. That said, though, there is an instrumental part with some rather bombastic keyboard sounds that lend more of that gothic electronic pop rock sound to the cut.
I Just Can’t Breathe
Classic folk rock sounds open this. As the first non-lyrical vocals come across, I’m reminded of Fleetwood Mac again. The song works out from there into something that contrasts sung female vocals with distant, modern raps for the choruses. The verse is pure rap. We get a killer harder rocking movement later, too. The multilayered sung vocals over that section are classy and classic.
Fire The guitar sound that opens this again calls to mind folk rock. We get some crunch guitar in the mix after that. The male vocals dominate this cut and it definitely has a modern alternative rock based take on classic rock stylings. Some melodic instrumental elements later, including flute, lend some progressive rock to the mix. This is one of the most mainstream and accessible pieces here. In some ways I’m reminded of Jeff Lynne just a bit here (at least in terms of the song-writing).
Waiting on the Thunder This is a more balladic like tune. It’s got some piano in a prominent place in the mix. Overall this one lands pretty close to progressive rock. I’d have to say that the vocal performance really makes this cut work. It’s quite possibly the strongest tune here. I love this one.
Menta E Rosmarino Textural elements open this. The melody rises up with a very sedate and pretty sound. It feels almost classical in some ways. The vocals are pretty and gentle as they enter. As this gets more powered up and intense, the vocals really soar. In fact, this is another song where the vocals really steal the show. It’s also another track that fits pretty well under a progressive rock heading. Some Spanish guitar later brings some world music to the table.If "Waiting on the Thunder" has competition for the "best song" slot, this is it. That one and this are definitely the two best things here.
