Confession time. When I first saw the artwork for Remember Me by Echo and Presence, a few alarm bells went off.
This is down to fact that the artwork is blatantly AI generated, and having already fallen victim to an AI band before, I feared the worst. But a little bit if if internet investigation and Good News Everybody! Echo and Presence are indeed real, actual human beings.
More specifically they are Belinda Blomqvist and Emma Andersson, which makes me happy as I quite like this song.
It’s listed as Heavy Metal in the PR blurb that accompanied Remember Me, but I feel that doesn’t quite so it justice as even though there are obvious elements of that throughout, Echo and Presence give off a very Dark Cabaret vibe.
For those of you who don’t know, Dark Cabaret is a movement/genre that has been around since the 1930s, but didn’t really reach mainstream success until 2000 onwards. It spawned some brilliant bands, such as The Dresden Dolls and the criminally underrated Birdeatsbaby, and it has a special place in my little black heart as it helped reinvigorate my love for music when it seemed that it would be permanently killed off by shit pop-punk, terrible middle class emo bands crying about how their mummies didn’t understand them, and Avril fucking Lavigne.
So, when the opening piano refrain and clean vocals of Remember Me reached my ears, I suddenly found myself very interested in what the next four and a half minutes had in store for me, and it’s safe to say that Echo and Presence didn’t disappoint.
This is the perfect balance of Metal and Dark Cabaret and it walks the fine line between leaning too heavily into one or the other quite exquisitely. The contrast between Belinda Blomqvist’s pure vocals and Emma Andersson’s threatening piano, guitar, and everything else work, is that of two musicians who know each other well and understand what they need to do to bring the best out of each other.
This is a song that is both melancholy and aggressive as hell at the same time, and it is a tribute to Echo and Presence that they pull it off without sounding clichéd.
Remember Me is a good track and Echo and Presence are a name you should keep and eye on, as they offer a genuine alternative to alternative music.
RATING: 3.5 OUT OF 5
RATING SYSTEM:
- 0 – 1: Fucking shit
- 1 – 2: Shit
- 2 – 3: Not Bad Shit
- 3 – 4: Pretty Good Shit
- 4 – 5: Amazing Fucking Shit
- 5: The Best Shit You Will Ever Hear
PRESS SOURCE: Against PR
