This Thursday at Ella St. Social Club, three bands will be convening for an enigmatic evening of dimly-lit “lounge” metal, sludge doom and crunchy post-punk, all vocalized through growling pipes of women.
Emerging from the shadows of Portland, Luminous Veil and Scavenger Cunt will be playing with Seattle-based, all-girl quartet Eighteen Individual Eyes. What the three have in common, most obviously, is a front woman. Other than that, the varying degrees of rock will undoubtedly result in a well-rounded evening.
The newest and darkest group of the evening appears to be the trio Scavenger Cunt whose no-wave vocals and drone-metal tendencies shape themselves into a beautifully vengeful package capable of seducing the swaying, shaking skulls that haunt their sound. With guitarist Dale Miller’s elements of doom and the slightly off-key lethargy of singer and bassist Patsy Gelb, Cole Miller’s simplistic drumbeats act as ground roots plunging deep into the groaning beast of garage punk. At times the vocals dance through sunshine pop-punk melodies and the effect is only that of pure irony. Fans of Sonic Youth or the Pixies might be interested in this band. Considering the single, solitary month of their togetherness, this band is definitely one to keep your eye on.
Scavenger Cunt is currently without tangible published music but is working on a split cassette tape with Uncle Funkle on Gnar Tapes, the same label promoting bands like White Rainbow, Bodhi and White Fang. Few demo recordings can be found online.
Eighteen Individual Eyes, a band proud of their femininity, crash-coursed into each other’s lives about a year and a half ago when the collaboration began. Drummer Jamie Hellgate, previous guitarist for Seattle band H is for Hellgate, and guitarist Christi Harrison, previously in Hungry Pines with Irene Barber, all began playing together when their previous bands broke up. The wound of ending music projects became but another door guiding them to an ever more promising coalition.
In March they took a short west coast tour to promote their new EP, “Slightly Frightened, Mostly Happy.” Their sound embodies pop on a level more affluent than the other two bands—namely because of Irene Barber’s vocal flawlessness and pseudo-superficial timbre. At times the music and vocals seem to be made of different worlds—or at least different genres. The music alone has the rippled weavings from bands like At The Drive-In and other nineties post-punk rock bands. They occasionally utilize samples as the women skillfully intertwine the lighthearted nature of upbeat girly pop. The members are talented and notorious for impressing unsuspecting audiences with their precision and particular style.
These ladies have been working away, writing music all summer and are hoping to release some new recordings soon.
Luminous Veil, previously known as Magnon, has music hiding in the recesses of cyberspace and will not uncover itself so one can comment on its gems or grimes. As such, all one can understand about their mysteriousness is their self-proclaimed genre description of psychedelic metal rock. Also with a female vocalist, the theme throughout the evening should be a constant capturing element. ?