Vienna Ditto describe themselves as a “female-fronted electronic blues duo” and while this is certainly true, it doesn’t really come close to describing the beauty and oddity of their sound, a trippy and evocative combination of blues, slowed down rockabilly, electronica and country, which defies easy classification.
Despite this, they’ve enjoyed recent critical acclaim and airplay on Radio One and BBC 6 music. Vocalist Hatty Taylor’s languid croon is perfect for the slow hypnotic pace of all three songs on their new EP, “Ugly”. The cover art of “Ugly” depicts a childlike drawing of a sleeping moon, and this kind of dreamy, slightly surreal mood saturates the whole EP.
The title track of “Ugly” begins with swooping synths over a heady drum beat, and they lead into a song with a positively filthy blues rock stomp, over which Taylor growls a sinister ode to a stalker. This is the music of seedy, smoky, bars down anonymous New York backstreets; of illicit encounters in cheap motels and any other number of classic film noir moments. It really is a superbly atmospheric song and probably the best on the EP. Slower number “By Way of Apology” is quite lovely in a different way though, it’s the aural equivalent of pouring treacle, a slow burning, intense delight of a song.
Overall, there’s a lot to love about Vienna Ditto’s EP. “Ugly” is ethereal and provides perfect mood music. Admittedly, despite the slightly more upbeat nature of the title track, it’s never going to provide the soundtrack to an evening of wild dancing, and if you’re looking for music to go crazy to in a mosh pit or on a dance floor, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere. However, if you want thoughtful, mesmerising and genre-defying music then “Ugly” is an EP you can’t really afford to be without.
“Ugly” is available from http://viennaditto.bandcamp.com/album/ugly.
Band Links
http://viennaditto.com/
https://www.facebook.com/viennaditto/info
https://soundcloud.com/viennaditto
http://www.reverbnation.com/viennaditto
https://twitter.com/viennaditto
Review By Elinor Day.
