‘moody, dirge-y, shadow filled melodies‘ – Dara Higgins checks out Princess‘ Black Cat EP.
Princess deal in darkness, primarily. That’s where they come from; moody, dirge-y, shadow filled melodies. The vocals remind me of Derby hardcore lads Cable, from way back in the day. The same laconic, slightly atonal delivery. There are far more levels to the guitar than there are to the voice. Some of the noises that lead dude Liam manages to wrangle from his axe are immense. Occasionally sounding like a crane falling over, occasionally sounding like the new MBV album couldn’t have come at a worse time. ‘Fall Slow’ has that nauseating lilt that Shields made his own. That same, tape-slowed sound that made a mate of mine bring his tape of Loveless back to the Virgin Megastore three times (THREE!) because he was convinced it was broken.
From a personal point of view I don’t know if I feel old, nostalgic or just a jaded by a seen it all before insouciance.
Of course, I don’t want to do Princess a disservice by pointing out these comparisons but they’re there. ‘Excuse the Voice’ has a tight, probing rhythm, repeating itself into a hypnotic spiral, which is then thrashed by the wailing guitar. In ‘Come and Go’ there are hints at melodies and levels of complexity that they’ve yet to realise.
