Velvetfish 2019
Cocotropus Roseus
Swiss ensemble swim to surface with an impressive four-track offering – seductive and deep.
This quintet may define their chosen genre as blues-rock yet what the Lausannois play has much more to it than shifting gloom. As both their name and the title of their first mini-album suggest, gentle touch and sadness go hand in hand, so the group’s songs make sure to sweeten the pain that’s always there. Not for nothing half of the pieces deals with vain attempts to attain something vital, while the opener “Help” is self-explanatory…
…or it could be if Krystal Roze’s sultry vocals didn’t flutter so alluringly over country twang before heavy riffs anchor the overall vibe to Delta and set shamanic anxiety as the record’s main motif, molten guitar solos passing mellifluousness further on, to the jagged edge of “Impossible” that’s mesmeric in its tribal throb and voices’ weave. Still, for all the ancient tribalism the ensemble employ, “Dark Motions” is hung on a trippy contemporary groove where vaudeville meets alt. rock, and the insistent drone behind “Uncatchable” can only hint at how hard to fathom this quintet’s method…
…at least by their brilliant debut which promises to deliver more colors when followed by a full-length work.
****2/3
