Read More This band, Silver Swans, took their name from Wonder Woman's villain. The original Silver Swan (Helen Alexandros) got her sonic powers from the Greek Gods...
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Some music is best experienced at night, sheathed in the pungent scent of spontaneity and Acqua di Gio. San Francisco duo Silver Swans makes “bedtime” music for grownups. Grownups with nocturnal habits and loosely-defined bedtimes, that is. Listening to Secrets is a passage to the streets of New York or Berlin—bustling meccas for urban explorers just looking to get their groove on.
Like a steady heartbeat, Secrets pumps life into an often static genre by way of minimal production and cool-as-ice vocals (courtesy of song mistress Ann Yu). Still a highly stylized piece of pop art, the album will probably appeal to a mainstream audience moreso than its conceptual fellows. The opening track of Secrets, “Best Friend in Love,” sets the mood, which is cool, by the way; coy, even. Yu’s voice is a strategic blend of seductive and saccharine. She may very well shatter your heart into a million pieces, but you’ll never decry her actions “bitchy.” Because, as she puts it, “I never meant to hurt you.” The strongest track on Secrets is also the longest, clocking in at just over five minutes. “Meet Me Somewhere Nice” begins like an unsteady lullaby—the child’s play instrumentation and Yu’s wispy vocals create the kind of creepy twee a Polanski fan might appreciate; then, at the 1:30 mark a beat kicks in and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE (in electro-pop vernacular ‘hell’ roughly translates as ‘hand claps’).The result is a dance song perfect for those of us that have trouble finding the rhythm and generally prefer swaying solo.
If you’re wondering about the band’s namesake, obviously you are neither nerd nor virgin (maybe). ‘Silver Swans refers to a group of villains in the Wonder Woman comic series. These nefarious fowl possess the ability to create a “swan song” sound wave capable of destroying land (and presumably the people that inhabit said land). But never fear, Silver Swans—the band—are emphatically non-evil and do not wish to destroy land and people! It is a curious choice, however, choosing an act of violence to symbolize a creative act of beauty. Rather than dwell on the psychology behind their fandom, let’s simply call them nerds, push them off the jungle gym and be done with it.*
One final note: Yu sings in Korean on the last track “Secrets (Bimil)”, of what, I don’t know. It could be lost Biblical scripture, it could be her grocery list. I only mention this as a novelty not a criticism. Truthfully, with this brand of music what she sings is less important than how she sings.
Secrets is Silver Swans’ debut EP. A full-length album is forthcoming, tentatively scheduled before the end of the year. For more information on the band or to purchase a copy of the EP, visit their Facebook page.
* In all honesty, though, Wonder Woman is not the nerdiest comic series to follow. If Silver Swans were truly hardcore geeks they’d call themselves Doctor Doom, amiright?
Like a steady heartbeat, Secrets pumps life into an often static genre by way of minimal production and cool-as-ice vocals (courtesy of song mistress Ann Yu). Still a highly stylized piece of pop art, the album will probably appeal to a mainstream audience moreso than its conceptual fellows. The opening track of Secrets, “Best Friend in Love,” sets the mood, which is cool, by the way; coy, even. Yu’s voice is a strategic blend of seductive and saccharine. She may very well shatter your heart into a million pieces, but you’ll never decry her actions “bitchy.” Because, as she puts it, “I never meant to hurt you.” The strongest track on Secrets is also the longest, clocking in at just over five minutes. “Meet Me Somewhere Nice” begins like an unsteady lullaby—the child’s play instrumentation and Yu’s wispy vocals create the kind of creepy twee a Polanski fan might appreciate; then, at the 1:30 mark a beat kicks in and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE (in electro-pop vernacular ‘hell’ roughly translates as ‘hand claps’).The result is a dance song perfect for those of us that have trouble finding the rhythm and generally prefer swaying solo.
If you’re wondering about the band’s namesake, obviously you are neither nerd nor virgin (maybe). ‘Silver Swans refers to a group of villains in the Wonder Woman comic series. These nefarious fowl possess the ability to create a “swan song” sound wave capable of destroying land (and presumably the people that inhabit said land). But never fear, Silver Swans—the band—are emphatically non-evil and do not wish to destroy land and people! It is a curious choice, however, choosing an act of violence to symbolize a creative act of beauty. Rather than dwell on the psychology behind their fandom, let’s simply call them nerds, push them off the jungle gym and be done with it.*
One final note: Yu sings in Korean on the last track “Secrets (Bimil)”, of what, I don’t know. It could be lost Biblical scripture, it could be her grocery list. I only mention this as a novelty not a criticism. Truthfully, with this brand of music what she sings is less important than how she sings.
Secrets is Silver Swans’ debut EP. A full-length album is forthcoming, tentatively scheduled before the end of the year. For more information on the band or to purchase a copy of the EP, visit their Facebook page.
* In all honesty, though, Wonder Woman is not the nerdiest comic series to follow. If Silver Swans were truly hardcore geeks they’d call themselves Doctor Doom, amiright?
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