If I'm speaking to the converted then apologies, but for anyone who doesn't already know Effi Briest that are the best band to come out of New York since fey boys in cardigans tried to reclaim post-punk as their own, let me explain why.
Their fascinating debut album ‘Rhizomes’ has a heady atmosphere reminiscent of other timeless debuts like Murmur (REM), Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division), Yeti (Amon Düül) or 77 (Talking Heads) that inhabit their own claustrophobic spaces and define a universe for their creators. Of course the fact that the brilliant ripple of Talking Heads Tina Weymouth bass are in the mix throughout, along with a dash of Siouxsie Sioux vocal and atonal Can beats doesn't hurt either, but the combination is an off-kilter parade of space-rock and krautrock. Hold on, don't just roll your eyes.
If your seeking a melancholic X-factor the Effi Briest have it, whether this has it origins in the fact that the band are a sextet of women or that their musical affiliations flirt with bygone eras (mostly) without being remotely retro. Perhaps it's the bands name origins in a typically teutonic nod to classic German literature where the heroine is a doomed adulteress. Madame Bovary with less smiling!
Whatever it is which sets Effi Briest aside from most bands they undeniably rock to their own skewed beats and aren't beholding to male-orientated histrionics. In an otherwise boring field of inert rock music they have the balls (excuse the reference ladies) to forge their own wonky path and I'm happy to follow along in their footsteps.
www.myspace.com/effibriest
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
