Eyes & No Eyes – Eyes & No Eyes

The latest offering from Brighton’s Wilkommen Records, Eyes & No Eyes are a home-grown folk rock four piece founded at the heart of the city’s burgeoning art school scene.

Having paid their dues supporting the likes of Sons of Noel and Adrian, Damo Suzuki and Do Make Say Think, the band release their debut self titled album this week. Captured live whilst on the road, the eight track record is a formative adventure into the experimental and sees jangling electronic guitar combine with explosive improvisation.

From the off it is clear that the out of the studio approach, overlaid later by the analog synths of collaborator Woodpecker Wooliams, has managed to bridge the murky gap between live performance and recording. Eyes & No Eyes go a long way to push the boundaries in their first full length, playing with a myriad of different guises and effects. Where it delves into obscurity though, they always manage to ensure their solid foundations are fully retained.

Opener “Breathe In” sees a distorted pandemonium quickly dissipate into soft pensive vocals and rhythmic hooks. Sweeping cellos add a softer and unexpected dimension, whilst outbursts of dark atmospherics echo between erratic drums. “Autocratic” has a similar offbeat delivery with tribal elements lurking deep within the pounding percussion; frantic and edgy in parts, urgency bubbles underneath the abruptness.

In contrast, “Hidden Thieves” has a longer foreboding build as drawn out cello notes give way to a six minute epic of highs and lows. Dystopian soundscapes break into more melodic moments, allowing for a clever duality to be played out. Eyes & No Eyes seem to embrace opposing forces within their improvisation, with both intensity and reflection frequently tumbling into each other at breaking point.

Lengthy compositions are also clearly a theme with the band as “Rust” is liberal in its expansive swathes of guitars. Marrying the unlikely couple of shoegaze and folk, it is a collision that intrigues as it does surprise. A welcome whimsical side is explored within “Old Crow” as surreal stories are strung over lilting melodies and “Blackwaterside” sees tempos switched down to their most tantalising.

By the time the album comes to an end with “The Drowned World”, Eyes & No Eyes have proved themselves more than capable of crafting fine emotive narratives with their intuitive instrumentation and deft, dramatic shifts.