Eerie Family – S/T – New LP

fasterandlouderblog.blogspot.com (USA) Jan 2020 Here we go with another great release from ALIEN SNATCH! RECORDS. Although this one is probably not what you would expect. EERIE FAMILY are Alex and Alyse from HEX DISPENSERS playing music very much unlike Hex Dispensers. Their self-titled LP just released on New Year's Eve. Call it whatever you like: Goth, death rock, dark wave, or (as the label terms it) gloom pop. Any way you shake it, this is a gorgeously creepy creation that fuses elements of post-punk and synth pop with a spooky worldview and this duo's well-defined predilection for melody. I suppose an "upbeat" Goth song is a contradiction in terms, but opening track "Everybody Disappear" manages to be exactly that. It's as hook-laden as it is creepy, and that's really saying something. It's like a love anthem for ghouls, creatures, and zombies everywhere. "A Ghost Who Lives Inside Your Heart" is a chillingly beautiful number channeling the bleak minimalism of JOY DIVISION by way of The CURE and JESUS & MARY CHAIN. "Dead Stars Still Shine On Us Tonight" could not be more haunting, yet it pulls you in with captivating melodies and nicely harmonized vocals. "I Am Tarantula", told from the point of view of a feared creature that just wants to be loved, is driven by a fittingly playful synth line. "I Hope the Sun Explodes Today" is an old Hex Dispensers song that you might barely recognize. There's a refreshing simplicity to the structure of these songs. Every drum beat and keyboard note comes off carefully considered, and the vocals are eerie in a way that sounds natural and not comically overplayed (a frequent weak point for this genre of music). I'm not generally a fan of "dark" music, but I have been fully won over by EERIE FAMILY. Beyond all else, this is simply fantastic pop. It certainly doesn't hurt that Alex and Alyse have such splendid chemistry, and overall this is a perfect example of how to take death rock and make it full of life. "You only need enough friends/To carry your casket when you're dead" is some of the most profound wisdom I've encountered in a long time! (Josh Rutl

shutupandplaythemusic.blogspot.com (France) Jan 2020 Two major punk bands from Austin blew up the power-pop/garage-punk scenes in the late-noughties : the Marked Men and the Hex Dispensers. The Alex Cuervo’s band left us back in 2015 with the awesome III LP on Alien Snatch Records x. This whole powered punk album, driven by the warm, intense voice of the singer, was fully counterbalanced at the end by a very last track, Hypersleep, with some beautifully melodious female vocals on a haunting, slightly grungy dark wave sound, that was potentially announcing a different musical orientation of the Hex Dispensers’ members. It is huge delight to find these two distinctive voices back on a new duo band : Eerie Family x. Alex Cuervo plays loud gothic organs, extending this way his synth-punk/ electro-space-rock Espectrostatic solo project, while Alyse Mervosh is on the drums. The simultaneous vocals successfully mingle with one another, the lyrics seem quite eerie, every doomed musical note or minimalist riff deeply resonates with the body, the weighing darkness of the electro-pop sound offsets the relaxing tempo on the drums and the clear sonority of the whole thing (the Marked Men Mark Ryan’s touch on the mixing/mastering?). This outer-space post-punk / no wave atmosphere is strengthened by the gloomy, weird front cover of the Lp. A really moving immersion into a depressive, dead-end world and a sound close to the Joy Division’s and Blank Dogs’quietest stuffs, the Kavinsky’ s soundtrack of the Drive movie, the Kaka Kids Records blast, or even the Pixies’ Wave of Mutilation song, this one being transcendly covered on the final track of the album. The German label, Alien Snatch Records, mostly involved in efficient garage punk/ power-pop bands, offered us lately last year an unusual release. The label is scheduling a European tour in August 2020. You now know how to spend your leisure time next summer ! (OM)

daily.bandcamp.com (USA) We could all do with a little extra space now and then. Thank heavens, then, for the debut effort by EERIE FAMILY: a gloom-and-doom sadcore project comprising Alex Cuervo and Alyse Mervosh, formerly of Texas goth-garager band the HEX DISPENSERS. In a stark deviation from their ex-band’s explosive noir M.O., this record teaches a masterclass in depressive minimalism à la Carissa’s Weird, waxing spooky over a listless cloud-sea of deadpanned vocals, forlorn acoustic strums, and slackened percussion. Straightforward as EERIE FAMILY’s arrangements might be, the wide, deep mix and cozy production contain multitudes, a dynamic contrast that’s as intoxifying as it intriguing. Who knew softness had so many shades? Or that darkness could sound so damn comfy? (Zoe)

headsonsticks.co.uk (UK) EERIE FAMILY reveals itself to be a stirring, and at times romantic, statement, never afraid to allow the light of a good tune or sentiment lie among the dread. Always seductive and evocative, Eerie Family is a dynamic chiller which moves you, excites you, but never drains you

complexdistractions.blog (USA) Throughout the EERIE FAMILY debut Alex Cuervo and Alyse Mervosh build a dark and catchy musical world. At times esoteric and Gothic but also very traditional and pop-oriented, this debut will win you over with catchy hooks and an undeniable pull into the darkness.

EERIE FAMILY is an asteroid shot out of the stellar belt of the infamous HEX DISPENSERS orbit right when heat absorption got insane. A fantastic gloom-pop debut album by Alex Cuervo (keyboard/vocals) and Alyse Mervosh (drums/vocals). Regardless of gravitational interactions you will be pulled into their black hole of darkness and surrounded by an immense undead orchestra. Catchy garage doom, headspinning vocals, and a creepy backbeat. The synth & drums hits are so spooky that you feel watched constantly and wonder if this is a megalo-martyr explosion or a skeleton wedding. The vinyl has two bonus songs which will not be on any digital release. First pressing comes on a heavy 180 gram vinyl edition, 400 black vinyl copies, 100 copies clear white vinyl with disruptive black swirls (mail order only), all sleeved in uncoated cardboard and black inners. Dead or alive, out of Texas or Hell, those zomboids will spill black blood.