EBB – The Management Of Consequences EP
You can’t say expressive art-rock meets progressive based sextet EBB (Erin Bennett - lead vocals, guitars; Nikki Francis - Hammond, piano, synths, saxophone, flute, clarinet; Kitty Biscuits - backing vocals, percussion, spoken word poetry; Bad Dog - bass; Suna Dasi - synths, backing vocals; Anna Fraser - drums, percussion) do things by halves.
The Management Of Consequences EP, which follows on (chronologically and part-thematically) from 2022 debut album Mad & Killing Time, is a fully packaged case in point.
Firstly, while consisting of only three songs, the overall length of the EP is 18 minutes, including an ever shifting, eight-and-a-half minute, three-part opener.
Secondly, art-rock doesn’t just refer to their musical stylings; it also nods to the visual medium, in this case (in CD form of the EP) an accompanying 24 page, A5 booklet that includes explanatory story narrative, lyrics and photo-images.
The booklet also helps underline the band’s own comments that The Management Of Consequences can be seen, to a degree, as a companion piece to Mad & Killing Time.
While the album, which came with its own (48 page) booklet, was a comment on the human condition, the EP, which deals with (and resolves) some of the issues raised in M&KT, is a more personal examination of the human condition, and evolution, through the concept of time – the fleeting (human life-time in a day, as the booklet images artfully convey) and the larger, cosmic scale (the EP is dedicated to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy).
The band's heady blend of 70s influenced prog, theatrical atmospherics and the avant-garde, all manifest themselves in opener 'Silent Saviour.'
Moving from its atmospheric, synth-backed opening to space-rock-psychedelia (with both western and eastern motifs), the number shifts to a short rock section before settling on a moodier, vocal passage, where Erin Bennett’s questioning style, and lyrics ("Will he hold you in your sleep? Or dry your crying eyes on the sheets") create a secondary atmosphere.
The song then kicks back into a King Crimson-esque sequence before changing tack completely with a short, clap-a-long Celtic-folk finale (one more drink while we question the insignificance of life against the scale of the universe please, barman).
'Cost & Consequence' is a more ethereal and rhythmic affair, but with a brooding and unsettling darkness attached, primarily through Erin Bennett’s vocals, which range from the delicate to near deranged to eerie operatic on the first lyrical section.
The song then switches to end on a more uplifting second vocal/ lyrical section, with relatively simple but effective backing.
'Nieu' is the jagged, Hammond-backed rock piece of the EP, one that cleverly mixes the completely off-kilter, such as the wickedly delivered mid-section narrative (an excerpt from 'Jenny Kiss’d Me' by Romanticism movement essayist & poet Leigh Hunt) with 70s era Hawkwind/ King Crimson sounds (kudos here to the bass lines and drum rhythms delivered by Bad Dog and Anna Fraser).
EBB will never be seen in the mainstream charts or heard on mainstream radio, but then their success lies elsewhere, refreshingly marching to the beat of their own, left field drum.
Art for art-rock’s sake.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Management Of Consequences, Mad & Killing Time and EBB merch can be purchased at: https://ebbband.bandcamp.com/
The Management Of Consequences EP, which follows on (chronologically and part-thematically) from 2022 debut album Mad & Killing Time, is a fully packaged case in point.
Firstly, while consisting of only three songs, the overall length of the EP is 18 minutes, including an ever shifting, eight-and-a-half minute, three-part opener.
Secondly, art-rock doesn’t just refer to their musical stylings; it also nods to the visual medium, in this case (in CD form of the EP) an accompanying 24 page, A5 booklet that includes explanatory story narrative, lyrics and photo-images.
The booklet also helps underline the band’s own comments that The Management Of Consequences can be seen, to a degree, as a companion piece to Mad & Killing Time.
While the album, which came with its own (48 page) booklet, was a comment on the human condition, the EP, which deals with (and resolves) some of the issues raised in M&KT, is a more personal examination of the human condition, and evolution, through the concept of time – the fleeting (human life-time in a day, as the booklet images artfully convey) and the larger, cosmic scale (the EP is dedicated to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy).
The band's heady blend of 70s influenced prog, theatrical atmospherics and the avant-garde, all manifest themselves in opener 'Silent Saviour.'
Moving from its atmospheric, synth-backed opening to space-rock-psychedelia (with both western and eastern motifs), the number shifts to a short rock section before settling on a moodier, vocal passage, where Erin Bennett’s questioning style, and lyrics ("Will he hold you in your sleep? Or dry your crying eyes on the sheets") create a secondary atmosphere.
The song then kicks back into a King Crimson-esque sequence before changing tack completely with a short, clap-a-long Celtic-folk finale (one more drink while we question the insignificance of life against the scale of the universe please, barman).
'Cost & Consequence' is a more ethereal and rhythmic affair, but with a brooding and unsettling darkness attached, primarily through Erin Bennett’s vocals, which range from the delicate to near deranged to eerie operatic on the first lyrical section.
The song then switches to end on a more uplifting second vocal/ lyrical section, with relatively simple but effective backing.
'Nieu' is the jagged, Hammond-backed rock piece of the EP, one that cleverly mixes the completely off-kilter, such as the wickedly delivered mid-section narrative (an excerpt from 'Jenny Kiss’d Me' by Romanticism movement essayist & poet Leigh Hunt) with 70s era Hawkwind/ King Crimson sounds (kudos here to the bass lines and drum rhythms delivered by Bad Dog and Anna Fraser).
EBB will never be seen in the mainstream charts or heard on mainstream radio, but then their success lies elsewhere, refreshingly marching to the beat of their own, left field drum.
Art for art-rock’s sake.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The Management Of Consequences, Mad & Killing Time and EBB merch can be purchased at: https://ebbband.bandcamp.com/