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Esben and The Witch - Wash The Sins Not Only The Face

rleedham 11 replies 09:08 January 16th, 2013

Esben and the Witch seem stuck on an autopilot where any levity is out of bounds and an abyss beckons for all the wrong reasons.

  • Really surprised by this

    Haven't heard the album yet though. Deathwaltz is brilliant.

    teamcooperuk | 16 Jan '13, 10:27 | X | ^ This | Reply

  • I appreciate you didn't like the album

    but the getting-the-album-name-wrong-on-purpose thing was a bit much.

    worrier1 | 16 Jan '13, 11:12 | X | ^ This | Reply

  • Interesting read

    everything you see as negative about this record is everything I see as a positive, such is the joy of subjectivity.

    I do take some umbrage that the overriding opinion seems to be serious album = bad album. Not everyone's interested in pedaling overly self-aware LOLS. And I don't think they could be described as 'thoughtless' at all, sometimes their thoughts don't always seem cohesive and are a little impenetrable, but if you really dig deep into the lyrics and try to grapple with some of the themes, it opens up a lot and goes some way to explain why the album is structured and paced as it is. IMO.

    jarock87 | 16 Jan '13, 14:17 | X | ^ This | Reply

    • I largely agree with this review except I'd give the album a 5 maybe.

      It's about as disappointing as 'Violet Cries' was for me - it's just boring and no where near thrilling enough or even hauntingly affecting enough as music like this should actually be. It's just a bit - well flat.

      There's some stand outs such as the single but nothing here really lives up to the huge promise that was the debut EP '33' which is still really quite good to my mind. I'm a bit fed up with this band to be honest as they haven't proven to be what I wanted and that's why my patience with them has run thin.

      They can and should do better. I have a feeling they won't - this is the band they seem destined to be.

      Violator | 16 Jan '13, 20:03 | X | ^ This | Reply

    • Thanks for writing such a thoughtful critique

      To briefly reply, it's not so much that serious album = bad album but to commit to the aesthetic you need to have a set of really strong songs. To flip the argument, a comedy album (aka Flight of the Conchords) lives or dies on whether it can marry funny jokes to some catchy songs. You can't have one and not the other.

      As for the 'thoughtless' comment, I feel that Esben and the Witch have one way of doing things and didn't really consider another approach to the same outlook.

      Like you said, it's all objective and to borrow a quote from Mark Kermode, "Other opinions are available"

      rleedham @jarock87 | 17 Jan '13, 13:08 | X | ^ This | Reply

  • I have a massive lo/hate relationship with E&TW

    loved them the first few times I saw them at various festivals etc in 2011 and then was super excited for their tour in support of Violet Cries.
    was a wee bit underwhelmed by the record but knew they were great live...all moody and affecting and what not. couldn't wait.

    sadly, somewhere between the end of that summer and the release of the album, they'd become D U L L. saw them twice on the VC tour and it just never picked up from the ominous humm of pretty much all of their songs.

    maybe it was something in me, but they changed from being engaging and interesting to listen to, to being trite and boring. a real shame, but I can't say I'm surprised with the 4/10

    thekidswhopoptoday | 20 Jan '13, 15:39 | X | ^ This | Reply
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