Stripping her tracks down to the barest bass and Synth particles, and with Sweetness dosed with cynicism, Eva Moolchan is one of the best additions to the Brooklyn music Scene this year

by Evan Monroe

Two lucky members of this edit crew were treated to a first dose of Eva Moolchan, aka Sneaks, last year at one of Myspace’s pop up music events in Baltimore (one of the still interesting components of the social media site so dwarfed by Facebook). While setting up her sparse equipment (a base guitar, drum machine, and synth), she chatted with the audience including wryly asking if they “dared” approach the stage, as if what was to come was an assault. Instead, what we heard in the short set was stripped down and fascinating a steady, throbbing beat line and simple sound loop, over which she offered at once semi melodic and conversational lyrics. It was a strange, simple, and wonderful intermingling of Joy Division like, slightly ominous post punk intonations… and actual joy. City Paper described a typical audience reaction perfectly. She, it described, makes listeners go “from curious to provoked to hungry,” as Moolchan smiles and gyrates with her slung bass.

Album Cover

Last year brought substantial changes for the 22 year old Silver Springs, Maryland native; she signed a record deal with Durham North Carolina based Merge Records, reissued her 2015 LP Gymnastics in the wake of a series of well received gigs, and moved to Brooklyn… and now dots our landscape with playfully stark appearances that require a steady eye on social media to track… but the effort is worth it, trust us.

This year brings her third LP, It’s a Myth. Ten tracks and a thrifty 18 minutes long, it’s pulsating and occasionally dour, with often whispered lyrics. Entirely its own thing, the album is a perfect counterpoint to the hyper produced space age polymer drek that too often outfits the “alternative listening” ranks. For the new effort, Moolchan enlisted help from Jonah Takagi and Ex Hex/Helium front woman Mary Timony, and the result is slightly longer and a hint shinier than Gymnastics, but as unexpected and infinitely listenable an effort as we’ve heard this year.

Eva Moolchan/Sneaks
sneaks.bandcamp.com

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