The Essex Green - Hardly Electronic

Festtage für Fans von The Essex Green - wenn auch nicht ganz günstige. Nicht nur, dass dieser Tage die beiden älteren Alben „Cannibal Sea“ (2006) und „The Long Goodbye“ (2003) erstmals als Wiederveröffentlichung auf LP (hellblaues bzw. weißes Vinyl) erhältlich sind, sondern es gibt auch frische Musik des US-Trios zu hören. Nach zwölf Jahren Stille gibt es jetzt auf „Hardly Electronic“ 10 neue Songs (plus 4 Lieder digital) zu entdecken und wahlweise auf schwarzem oder - in limitierter Auflage - orange-rot marmoriertem Vinyl käuflich zu erwerben. 

Dabei ist der Plattentitel wörtlich zu verstehen, denn Jeff Baron , Sasha Bell und Chris Ziter setzen ihren nostalgischen Indiepop / Folkrock / Psychdelic-Pop bewusst nahezu ohne elektronische Hilfsmittel um. Orgel, Piano, Mandoline, Streicher und Gitarren werden von charmanten Girl/Boy-Gesang gekrönt und lassen Synthesizer, Keyboards oder Computer nicht missen. 

Wer The Essex Green bisher nicht auf seinem Plattenteller liegen hatte, sollte dies nachholen, wenn sich dort sonst Alben von Belle & Sebastian, Math And Physics Club, oder Camera Obscura drehen. 

The Essex Green may the kind of under-the-radar band that could disappear for a decade without too many people wondering where they had gone; one spin of Hardly Electronic is enough to make that seem like a mistake. The record is good enough, and the band skilled enough, that even one year without a new album from them would feel like an eternity.
(All Music)

Listen to Hardly Electronic, and you’ll discover one of 2018’s best songs before you even get to the second track.
There’s plenty more here beyond the opener, of course. Bell takes the lead vocals on “The 710,” a breezy song with a swirling, psychedelic bridge, and “Catatonic,” which alternates glorious sections that sparkle and sigh with sections of singalong space-rock (also glorious). “Smith & 9th” sounds like it was carved out of a rich and productive slab of jangling acoustic strum. And the baroque “January Says” might just be the prettiest song on the album. It feels untethered by conventional recording and distribution techniques; instead, it floats into your brain on clouds of melody and beauty. It’s Pop Music Time Capsule material.
(Paste Magazine)

Straight folk-pop openers "Sloane Ranger" and "The 710" will easily win you over, but it's the soaring coda of "Don't Leave It In Our Hands" that signals you're in for something truly special. Other highlights include the light, country-rock grooves of "Catatonic" and the breezy, mandolin-laced "Waikiki," but you could find something good to say about pretty much anything here. (…)
Hardly Electronic is a mature and polished album from a band confident enough to let their influences guide their sound without overshadowing it. Longtime fans will obviously snap this up, but anyone with an interest in classically-minded pop arrangements and great songs will find much to like on this unexpected gem from the Essex Green.
(exclaim)