a0721165699_10

Living Under Drones, this could be a name of one of Norman Richard Spinrad’s stories, or even JG Ballard’s with the dystopian impacts of technology on people’s freedom, recounting the beginning of control and the point it gets lost. The credits start backwards, I think we’re dealing with a reversible record with the opposite meaning of new French cinema and a tape recorder which plays the announcement of a man, the song begins, gently, the notes have already begun to win you over – at least emotionally, the mental part of this existence is being mobilized. At one point it lets you rest in a backstreet, feeling the anguish down in a constant chase with the Drones, the narration goes on, noise, rough sounds, drums, base, everything is rocking in a frenzied rhythm and somewhere at that point the first track comes to an end in a state of exaltation. ‘John Cage’ is free.

Gradual acoustic scenery, track two, just enters. From these 2 minutes and 23 seconds I could picture the desert flowing, scattered images of a family gathering on a hill. I had the impression that somewhere in here Vangelis Papathanassiou could have fitted in with the keyboards. The wind, the guitars, they become more intense, it seems that something will hold its tongue so it can begin screaming again. Waves of sand are lifted up into the air, they cover us. This will become our sandy grave. Tons of sand are moving noisily between the notes. A progressive confrontation 2 minutes before it comes to an end revealing to us the intentions of the man sitting at the head of the table. He didn’t want to kill us, he was trying to convince us that we are also part of the community, just a speck between millions of specks of this gloomy desert. I think he’s successful, my hand disappears, it’s being transformed into sand. We are the power, think hard. This album, in about 16 minutes, manages to carry us away.

The third track could only be a porn song. Exclusively erotic and at the same time blue. The scene of a lovemaking act, tough or gentle, it’s your pick. The guitar effects seem to wander. Even if you’re not there, you feel Salma Hayek’s serpentine movement, the whisky running down along the soft skin with the same serpentine movement. Two machines pulsating, there is no semen or vaginal fluids, just oils and sparkles. I wonder how the ending will be at the end of the album. Iron sheets bang against each other fast, there’s no telling how long they will last. He doesn’t want to kill her. He wants her child, a mixture of noise and tension. After 6:30 we have reached a homestretch, his yelling can be heard, the gestation carries on with anguish, he screams. The little drone is dead.

The EP’s last song is ‘We Renounce The Old World’. The only thing I can say is that I lived the dream in 34 minutes. I travelled in dystopian universes, in mescal’s illusions, in erotic years where the machine crashes under the question of death and life. So many magical creatures and dreams of people come to accompany me in this course as the small album comes to an end. It comes to an end with a track I would define as triumphant. Intense bursts, emotional touches, dynamic endings. One of the best Greek releases of 2016. I would also like to add that the band is equally dynamic live and the boys enjoy themselves very much and those of you that haven’t seen them, do so immediately.

Last 2 minutes, “we came back and found an even better world”. These words were written in the diary of a man of Syrian descent, taking a journey to the past from the distant future. ‘Someone had changed the course of history. We saw that there was no war, just peace and love. The change was coming to us as well. I never left.’

Footnote: An extra mention for the cover of the album, it raises the ‘bar’ a lot.

Also, congratulations on the mastering and mixing of the album.

Makis Gevros