Dora Lachaise and Jonni Slate are Glasgow-based singer-songwriters who English music producer James Sanger contacted to create a new project comprising five songs that combine the duo’s fascination with UFOs and Neo-Noir films. The result was the fantastic EP ‘Weather Balloons’ available on Bandcamp now, while the singles are available on Spotify and other platforms. The duo also performed these singles in the past with video projections/backdrops meant to simulate a forgotten TV station that plays grainy and distorted films. I will describe each of these tracks on its own and review them for you now, so brace yourselves for a strange and experimental journey.
1- Weather Balloons
The track has an ominous synth/keyboard line that repeats for almost the entire song’s duration and feels very reminiscent of artists like Nick Cave and Nine Inch Nails. Dora starts singing a bit earlier than Jonni, but the moment Jonni starts singing he is accompanied by some clean guitars that add a touch of exploration and adventure in the middle of the horror/fright overtones of the sound. The most attractive element of the song for me was how harmonious and how magical both their voices work with each other. The track gave us a general idea of how the rest of the tracks will sound, but you’re wrong if you think this is the only trick these guys have up their sleeves.
2- Braver Than You
This is a slightly more hopeful and uplifting track, thanks to the brightness and clarity that the duo shows in their voices. The arrangement is slightly simpler than the previous track, as it mainly focuses on the acoustic guitar, the bass, and the drums. There’s an overall familiar sense of folk music in this track which made it all the more enjoyable.
3- Sign On The Door
My favorite track of the entire EP, and probably one of the best songs I’ve ever heard in my life, period. The synth is the only thing playing with the vocals for the first half of the song, and then there’s a sudden transition where the drums and guitars join and Dora’s voice turns into a scary Broadway/operatic style which made my jaw drop to the floor and my eyes open wide. The horror element returns here and it somehow channels the same energy as the first track, but they’re still vastly different.
4- Bluer Skies
As Neo-Noir as the duo promised, this song feels like it was composed for a David Fincher movie. I’m really in love with the warmth of the vocals and how well they match the darkly-toned clean guitars. It really felt like such an effect belongs to the 60s and early 70s, but with the modern production and the dissonant electronic synth, the feeling of unsettling darkness remained. It really helps connect the track to the rest of the album too, cause you don’t know whether it’s emulating the grainy TV or a rainstorm or what…I’d have to ask that question directly to Dora and Jonni to know.
5- Keep It In The Dark
This is the closing track which encompasses the elements that came before it perfectly. Whenever Dora sings a melodic line, Jonni follows her in a lower pitch and slightly darker timbre, representing different perspectives of the same vocal melody in a perfect and homogenous way. The pre-chorus and chorus are sung by both vocalists together, to put emphasis and accentuate the meaning behind the lyrics even more. This track samples the grainy TV sound and has a guitar chord progression, but it also uses an exotic instrument that sounds similar to a kalimba/xylophone to add more subtle horror to the mix…I really couldn’t name this instrument at first listen but it highly strengthened the notion that this is a film soundtrack.
In conclusion, Film Noir and Neo-Noir lovers will enjoy this EP so much, and when you tell them it’s five different soundtracks for five different movies you won’t be lying as they were all created with supporting video projections. The way no two songs sound the same on this record, all while sounding coherent and familiar, will always be a mystery to me. I can’t tell if it’s just production magic, the God-given amazing voice, the impeccable songwriting, the hard work supporting the talent, or if it’s just a mix of all these elements that helped this record become the masterpiece that it is. Grammy-worthy records like this sadly exist outside the top 100 and 200 charts, but I promise you they are worthy of your time, money, and recognition…and they aren’t that far of a deviation from what a mainstream fan would want to hear. So please, help me get this new masterpiece more views and more recognition to make it as popular as it deserves to be.
https://jonnislater.bandcamp.com/album/weather-balloons