Evvol are a one-part-Irish, one-part-Australian duo who have somewhat appropriately evolved out from previous moniker Kool Thing. Eternalism represents a debut for the two female bandmates as Evvol, even if it does follow on from their 2013 album within their previous act.
Eternalism is a short, sharp injection of dark atmospheric pop music. Opening the album with dischordent feedback and synths, I See You (I Am You) initially sounds restrained, but Evvol show their true colours through the soaring layered vocals and scratched guitar melodies that gradually emerge.
Tracks take on the shapeless groove-like form that Warpaint have successfully based their career on, but layered with electronic, futurist touches. Sola is a dreamy cinematic example of this, sweeping melodies given ample space to form their gently shifting song-shapes. Where Warpaint seemingly hit upon songs in spite of themselves the slow building grooves of Eternalism always feel a bit more deliberate. That may mean they never feel quite as miraculous as Warpaint's Undertow or Love Is To Die, but they manage a consistent brilliance all the same.
Evvol are unafraid to mix some real hooks in amongst their jams, and the chorus the tumbles out of No Love feels revelatory because it comes just when you least expect it. Similarly the nagging chorus and atmospheric calypso percussion of Four Steps From Home feels like an epic encore to everything that precedes it on Eternalism.
The only problem with Evvol's debut album is that there isn't enough of it. With nine tracks it is over all too briefly - of those nine, even two of those clock in below two-minutes, forming short but perfectly crafted interludes. It says something that the simple stark keyboards of one of these short interludes, Sirius A, is still more beautiful than most things I've heard this year. Simple, yet brilliantly effective.
Eternalism is released through !K7 on 24 July, pre-order now on iTunes.
