Festa: Hermetic Electric (Belgium)

Festa: Hermetic Electric (Belgium)

Music for heart & soul.
"Hermetic Electric is essentially Holly Naboo, who is responsible for all the instrumentation on this EP. In order to recreate this live however he is joined by Pat on keyboards and bass, and Elfi who also plays keyboards, while Holly concentrates on vocals, bass and guitar. As implied by this line-up, Hermetic Electric is a very keyboard project and if forced to pigeonhole this I’d have to describe this electronic pop in an alternative vein. Begin here starts with some vintage analog synthesizer sounds. The first impression is Kraftwerk and similar German bands from the 1970s; ‘krautrock’ is the term usually applied, but I dislike it. Musically this track is also reminiscent of early Depeche Mode, but all of those early 80s bands were in love with German synth bands. The overall feel is a sense of chilly remoteness, urban decay and alienation. The synthesizers here create a kind of riff together and since the effect is more mechanical than obviously musical. This immediately reminded me of early 1980s Cabaret Voltaire.

Despite these references to old bands, there is a modernity to Hermetic Electric and this comes across in the some of the sounds and beats – in this case almost a break-beat – that are used; this is definitely a band for the 21st century. Holly mixes his synthesizer textures together expertly; although they begin with an icy stillness, they later seem to ooze along with the drums. When the vocal comes in it arrives in a blurry echo which seems to practically strip it of any humanity – which is probably the point. There is definite sense that Holly Naboo is a Joy Division fan by this point, although there is nothing derivative about Hermetic Electric; the influences seem to provide inspiration rather than source material. Like Ian Curtis, Holly Naboo uses the bottom of his vocal range and his lyrics reflect a specifically urban kind of angst. This song is topped off by brief but effective lead guitar lines which act as kind of chorus; they pierce their way through the frozen synthesizer pads like ice picks. Holly is also an imaginative guitarist; his guitar style here remind me of Adrian Belew’s work with David Bowie. I’m not sure why but I could have sworn Hermetic Electric were a Manchester (at least Northern) band until I noticed that the project is based in Belgium! It just goes to show that existential crisis is universal."
Review written by Andy Holland in MancReview 05/01/2014
http://www.mancreview.com/2014/05/on-the-radar-hermetic-electric/

http://www.facebook.com/hermeticelectric
http://www.facebook.com/hyphenrecords
http://www.hyphenrecords.be

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