FZB favorites Love Echo are releasing a new EP in January titled Next to the Night. They have given us an advance taste with their stunning cover of Coldplay’s The Scientist. The duo of Vic Miranda and Vicki Glass just get better every time we hear them. It’s no easy feat covering a song so entrenched with the persona of the original artist. Love Echo pull this off effortlessly, lending their own unique style and vibe to the track. If this track is any indication, the new EP will be a killer. Stream and download The Scientist at the link below.
I’ve been a big fan of Love Echo ever since the duo released an awesome cover of The Cure’s “Lovecats” last summer. Vic Miranda and Vicki Glass have an ear for blending emotional dream pop with warm, somewhat experimental electronica. For further proof, please take a few minutes to enjoy Love Echo’s recent rework of Coldplay’s “The Scientist.”
The other day I found myself somewhat unconsciously reciting lyrics from “The Scientist.” So it makes sense that out of nowhere a unique and admirable cover of the track would surface online. Coldplay is one of those bands that everyone reworks, which makes Love Echo’s cover that much more commendable. It stands out to me as both original and complimentary to the original song. What are your thoughts?
Love Echo’s cover of “The Scientist” is available for free download onSoundCloud.
Love Echo é uma fusão entre as programações de Victor Miranda e a voz de Vicki Glass radicada no Luxemburgo mas que se estreia em Portugal no FUSING Culture Experience. Com um disco bem convidativo intitulado “I Promise You Always The Sky”, Victor Miranda presta-se a desvendar connosco um pouco do que está por detrás de uma sonoridade musculada, matematicamente electrónica mas aconchegante o suficiente para não sufocar os ares tão pop e tão luxuosos que Sun Glitters (que também subirá ao mesmo palco na mesma noite) imaginaria para si.
BandCom (BC): É difícil definir o vosso estilo de música assim como a localidade onde residem. Uma coisa tem a ver com a outra ou nem por isso ?
Love Echo (LE): Não nos definimos ou gostamos de estar num só local. Fazemos a música como a sentimos e queremos ir aonde o vento nos levar.
BC: Ao contrário de muitos músicos do mundo da electrónica, optaram por ter convosco uma voz feminina. O que é que isso acrescenta? Que força acham que isso voz traz a mais durante os lives ? LE: Sentimos que a nossa música necessita da sensualidade feminina. É deslumbrante, afectuosa, misteriosa…como uma mulher. Pura e simplesmente, traz-nos uma sensação de paz.
BC:Qual foi o feedback que têm recebido depois da edição do vosso “I Promise You Always The Sky”? LE: O feedback acerca da música foi surpreendente. Não estávamos à espera que tivesse a atenção ou os elogios que teve…embora no próximo disco possamos usar um melhor designergráfico, na verdade.
BC: Chill, silêncio, descontração, sonho, anti-stress… são coisas que vocês querem transmitir através da vossa música. Esta mensagem vai de encontro ao sinal dos tempos? Poderá soar isto a algo utópico/naïf? LE: Na verdade é uma revolta contra o sinal dos tempos. Sentimos que há cada vez mais poluição sonora a rebentar com a pulsação, com os níveis de stress e tensão arterial das pessoas. A música perdeu a sua beleza e o seu poder de influenciar positivamente as pessoas. Queríamos fazer algo que relaxasse que fizesse as pessoas largar o que as faz ter tanta pressa de fazer ou de ouvir. Mais silêncio do que barulho: a beleza está no silêncio.
BC:É compatível este tipo de música com espaços mais festivaleiros ?
LE: Veremos. Esperamos fazer deste festival uma grande celebração do amor.
BC: Os próximos lançamentos serão mais negros ou tão luminosos como o nome “Love Echo” sugere?
LE: O nosso nome sugere 70s disco night, portanto é nesta direcção que iremos prosseguir.
BC: Quais são as vossas referências a nível de música portuguesa? Com quem gostariam de atuar?
LE: Qualquer artista de fado.
BC: Fazer parte do cartaz do FUSING Culture Experience significa para vós…
LE: Uma oportunidade de ouvir música fantástica.
BC: Como surgiu a oportunidade de integrarem este cartaz? O Victor Ferreira (Sun Glitters) deu-vos algum empurrão? LE: Na verdade, o João dos Un:Think, um dos organizadores do festival, encontrou-nos no Soundcloud e remisturou uma faixa nossa, a “Daybreak”. Foi a partir daí que ficámos ligados a este festival.
BC:Para o resto do ano, o que podemos esperar dos Love Echo a nível de lançamentos e concertos? LE: Isso depende apenas da direcção em que o vento sopre.
Portuguese music producer, Vic Miranda, and the dreamy American vocalist, Vicki Glass – apparently geographically separated a little further than a chance stone’s throw from Luxembourg to Tokyo respectively – make up the ambient ‘post dream-pop’ duo, Love Echo… (you can pigeon-hole pretty much anything though right?) Forward thinking dream-pop it is. Lo-fi stuttering beats akin to the sound of Flying Lotus, marauding synthlines and ethereal landscapes provide a more-than-appropriate stage on which Glass’ dream like vocals can perform – a genuine transporter of any willing consciousness. Bold and ambitious, yet subtle and honest. Have a gander at this beautiful track, ‘Daybreak’, taken from last year’s debut album, ‘I Promise You Always the Sky’
‘I Promise You Always the Sky’ is available to stream in it’s entirety and to buy here]
Ele chama-se Vic Miranda e é luxotuga; ela chama-se Vicki Glass e é uma vocalista francesa a residir actualmente em Tóquio, no Japão. No conjunto, são eles os Love Echo.
Juntos, com maior ou menor distância a separá-los, os Love Echo fizeram nascer ”I Promise You Always The Sky”, a mais recente edição da LebensStrasse Records.
Juntos, os Love Echo, oferecem um cocktail sonoro feito quase sempre de paz e harmonia, um disco assente na electrónica e na batida suavemente cadenciada do português e na voz cintilante e absorvente da francesa. Juntos, a promessa de um amor.
“São 10 faixas que enfeitiçam de tão melosas que são; uma música que nos embala, fortemente; uma voz que nos apaixona, sempre”, diz o site A Trompa do álbum dos Love Echo.
On the surface Vic Miranda and Vicky Glass are just another guy/girl dreampop duo trying to establish themselves amongst a vast array of talent. But these two stand out. I first knew after hearing their rendition of The Cure’s “The Lovecats”. To say Love Echo makes this track their own is an understatement. It’s essentially a different song, linked only by the lyrics. But all that only adds to “Lovecats” unique appeal. The piano melody haunts while Glass’ vocals are passionately sedating. “Lovecats” is a song with substance, a track you need to hear more than once to fully appreciate. Check out Love Echo’s debut album I Promise You Always The Sky out now.
Vic Miranda (l.) und Vicki Glass haben vor knapp drei Wochen ihre erstes Album „I promise you always the sky“ veröffentlichtFotos: Band
LUXEMBURGPATRICK VERSALL
Das amerikanisch-luxemburgische Musik-Duo „Love Echo“ im Interview
Soziale Netzwerke können Fluch und Segen zugleich sein. Im Falle des Musikduos „Love Echo“ trifft dann doch eher letzteres zu. Musikproduzent Vic Miranda aus Luxemburg und die gebürtige US-Amerikanerin Vicki Glass haben sich im Netz kennen gelernt. Beim ersten virtuellen Beschnuppern wurde beiden sehr schnell klar, dass sie sich beide in der gleichen musikalischen Ecke wohlfühlen. 2012 gründeten sie ihr Electropop-Duo „Love Echo“, seit Kurzem ist ihr Debütalbum „I promise you always the sky“ online wie auch als physische Kopie erhältlich. Miranda zog jahrelang als Diskjockey durch die Luxemburger Nächte und verpasste als Remixer auch den Tracks luxemburgischer Bands eine neue Physiognomie.
Im Bereich der elektronischen Musik, speziell Techno, sei die Konkurrenz ziemlich hart im Moment, so Miranda, da viele Produzenten und DJs lieber am globalen Einheitsbrei mitkochen, als neue Rezepte auszuprobieren. „Ich wollte eine andere Richtung einschlagen, habe ein Projekt angekurbelt, mit dem wir ein breiteres Publikum ansprechen können“, so der Soundtüftler.
Kreativitätsschub
Diese Rechnung ging auf Anhieb mit dem ersten Titel „Lovecats“ auf, den Miranda und die Wahl-Japanerin Glass ins Netz setzten. Den Coversong des „The Cure“-Klassikers klickten binnen den ersten 14 Tagen über 20.000 User an; „heute sind es schon um die 44.000“, so Vic Miranda. Der Produzent kannte die Band, jedoch nicht den Song. Glass wiederum ist eine Verehrerin der Truppe um Leadsänger Robert Smith. „Ich mag den Titel wegen seines Textes sehr“, so die Künstlerin, die seit geraumer Zeit in Tokyo lebt und arbeitet.
Die Sängerin hatte Vic Miranda den aufgenommenen Gesangspart zukommen lassen, damit er um diesen herum das Soundgerüst errichten konnte. „Hätte sie mir im Vorfeld gesagt, dass es sich um einen Titel von ‚The Cure‘ handelt, so hätte ich vermutlich davon abgesehen, die Sounds dafür beizusteuern“, so der Produzent. Das Feedback der Fans hatte für die beiden Musiker einen Kreativitätsschub zur Folge. An und für sich sei die Aufnahme einer EP geplant gewesen, so Vic; es wurde jedoch so viel Material eingespielt, dass man sich dann dazu entschieden hat, ein komplettes Album zu veröffentlichen. Jene Titel, die es nicht auf die Platte geschafft haben, bringt „Love Echo“ entweder als EPs unters Volk oder in Form von Remixen, die man dann zum freien Download ins Netz stellt. „Ich persönlich liebe Remixfassungen“, so Vicki Glass, die Texterin der Band.
Es sei nämlich unheimlich interessant zu sehen, so die US-Amerikanerin, welche Ideen andere Musiker und Produzenten in die „Love Echo“-Kompositionen einfließen lassen. Weitere Remixaufträge wurden bereits an internationale Produzenten erteilt. Auf einer Bühne wird man Love Echo in naher Zukunft nicht hierzulande erleben können. Es gäbe noch keine Anfragen aus dem Großherzogtum, so die Band. Das Duo wird allerdings demnächst für Auftritte nach Kanada reisen und, wenn alles klappt, geht die Reise anschließend weiter nach Mexiko .
First there was post-rock. Then came post-dubstep. Shit just aint cool unless it’s post its origins yeah? So welcome to the world of Love Echo. They are pretty much post-everything. Which basically means if you’re into post-relaxing in a hammock so deep you may never surface again, you’re going to dig Love Echo.
A duo from Luxemburg, they first made an appearance last year with their single, Love Cats, and they’ve wasted no time in getting an album together. I Promise You Always The Sky, came out yesterday on LebenStrasse Records and as the title suggests it will get you high. Download it from their bandcamp for a measly $10. Stuttering beats drowning in reverb, silky vocals caressing niggling woes away, this album will make you forget you have a job to go to in the morning. Pure bliss.
Haim may be the official sound of 2013 but there are plenty of other acts who can match their ability to replicate Eighties electronic pop: Vic Miranda and Vicki Glass are one, and have been doing their thing as Love Echo in Paris for a year, creating luscious, innovative digital treats that don’t quite deserve the Cantona poetry title they’ve been given here. I Promise You Always The Sky is a tight collection of futuristic but intimate tracks; a kick up the arse for vocal electronica albums, and one whose lyrics don’t make you want to drop a piano on the DJ.
Those who already know Love Echo will surely know them for their cover of The Cure’s ‘Love Cats’, which replaces the jangly miaowing of the original with stalking electronics, a piano melody, finger clicks and shimmering pads. It sets the tone for I Promise’s interpretation of pop, which Vicki Glass gives a very human face to with her breathy, pour-your-heart-out lyrics (“I need you/I need your star to find me again/I need your lips to define me again,” she sings on ‘Departure’, smoothing out the fuzzy synths). Other tracks portray her as a dance floor ice queen: ‘Daybreak’ layers ominous strings over a crunchy beat, while ‘Control’ takes an operatic house tune and slows it down so that the keyboards, piano and click track pass you by like a procession.
Most of the time I Promise remembers it’s a pop album, puffing out its hybrid sound rather than letting it mooch in the background. Sometimes it doesn’t: ‘We’ is glittery minimal techno that toys with angry bass music, not exactly eloquent with its single lyric but flexing the muscles of Vic Miranda’s digital production. ‘Eligy’ is another fence-sitter, letting Glass sigh over chords from Imogen Heap’s synthesizer. But the album gets its legs back when it rolls out ‘Hush’, four minutes of smooth neon breaks where end of a relationship blues are played out over exhausted beats. It somehow achieves chirpiness, paving the way for the more upbeat ‘Light’, which combines keyboards, staggered bass drums and lyrics like slogans from a biker bar (”Can’t get to heaven without going through hell”).
Despite a scattering of cheap couplets, I Promise You Always The Sky is a strong set of songs from Love Echo, essential for fans of woozy, bass-heavy electronica with vocals that don’t assume they’ve been lobotomised. Vic Miranda’s atmospheric pop is ideal for Glass’s voice, which compensates with mischief whenever it gets stuck in a groove – ninth track ‘One’ repeats a single piano loop, while tenth track ‘Eleven’ (the track listing is anarchy) layers fidgety percussion over nonsense words and keyboards. Like Crystal Castles sent to bed with a glass of warm milk, Love Echo’s album is a consistent enough set of subversive, coy digital pop songs, worth sticking around for after ‘Lovecats’ fades out.
