Release Date: 06 October 2018
1.Persona non Grata/2. If Mississipi John Hurt Knew What I’ve Done/3. Bathed In Moonlight/4. PNG-Wounded By A Gunshot (Remix by The Prowler)
Label: A Man out Of A Man
With such a project name and such a title one can barely decide where to start talking about this debut EP. Do you remember Mani Deum? If not, then a quick read through this review will probably refresh your memory and a listen to the band’s latest EP, will help you place them in the dark folk rock music realm. A band is nothing if not the creative ‘sum’ of its parts. The fact that one of its two vocalists a.k.a Manos K. decided to release a solo EP, helps us get a bit closer to the collective psyche of Mani Deum and to the mysterious sonic universe of Manos K. If the band is a puzzle of 1000 pieces then the fact that a fraction of one of the pieces, is doing something solo, is always a nice excuse for us to examine it closer.
A sonic trip from Athens to Mississipi
Enough about that though, we love nothing more than a musician who is artistically restless and keeps experimenting and challenging his/her artistic comfort zone and our expectations. ‘Persona non Grata‘ an EP that unapologetically uses an expression tied with the refugee problem that Greece has been struggling with the last few years, is a trip from Belgium’s coldwave scene to the birthplace of blues, America’s Mississipi. With the help of its 4 tracks we traverse these regions. The reference points of these 4 tracks are both plenty and different in nature. There are strong Pink Floyd influences in the beautiful guitar solos, there are rhythms that could have been taken straight from Trisomie 21’s ‘cookbook’, there is a performing style that could also work well in a doom metal EP (i.e. ‘Bathed In Moonlight‘)and there are drum machines that ascribe post punk and pop elements to the mix.
(more…)