EAUX

Words by Simon Catling

No matter how old you get, the keen sense of injustice when one of your favourite acts falls by the wayside remains a stinging sensation, a hole that, however small among the hundreds of other artists you listen to, appears in your musical palette. Was it their own undoing that, in an age of digital compression and endless competitions to be louder than the next, London’s Sian Alice Group were a group still keenly aware of the subtlety of dynamics both in the construction of their music and in how they went about producing it on record? It would hardly seem fair if so; listening to the two albums they released, 2008’s 59.59 and the following year’s Troubled, Shaken, Stirred Etc., it was precisely that majesty in loud-quiet contrast that so captivated in the group’s avant-looking constructions. Nevertheless, following those releases on Brooklyn label The Social Registry – former home of Gang Gang Dance – tours with Deerhunter and numerous ATP appearances they faded as innocuously as they arrived.

the light demo by eaux music

What a relief then to discover that though the Sian Alice Group may have passed on, two of its members, vocalist Sian Aherne and multi-instrumentalist Ben Crooks remain to heal the sting; teaming up with Stephen Warrington the trio announced the demise of their previous incarnation and the arrival of their new project Eaux in one fell Facebook post. Aherne’s nymph-like vocal and a continued spatial awareness in their composition, as well as kosmische-like influences, are evident on the three demos currently available from the group; ‘The Light,’ which I’ve chosen here and has also been featured on Abeano and Dummy Mag, shows however a newly trained focus on instrumental loops, percussive industrial-touching electronics and a sleeker, more overtly panoramic sound - a bigger and bolder feel the result. Eaux haven’t made their live debut yet, though it’s not far off as they support Blondes at The Shacklewell Arms in London on February 16th; Drowned In Sound meanwhile have just confirmed them to play on their stage at Salford’s Sounds From The Other City Festival. Though the past may currently opine their present, Eaux’s future - if ‘The Light’ is anything to go on - looks progressive indeed.