Black Nail Cabaret – Chrysanthemum (Album – Dependent Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Dark-Pop.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Hungarian duo Emese Arvai-Illes – Krisztian Arvai aka Black Nail cabaret strikes back with their sixth studio album. The title of the album is the familiar flower people put on the graves of their beloved ones. It has been transposed into some of the favorite themes the band is dealing with.
Content: Black Nail Cabaret remains faithful to their very personal creation and adaptation of Electro-Pop music; a dark and cold expression of Pop music which sounds colder than ice and darker than the darkest night in the year. The songs reveal groovier and danceable parts mixed with more evasive, sterile, atmospheric passages. On top of it all you’ll hear the charisma of ‘Ice Queen’ Emese Arvai-Illes.
+ + + : Black Nail Cabaret remains a very singular experience in sound; Dark-Pop music which sounds a bit out of the box resulting from a personal and creative process. The band however remains warrant for great songs and excels in professionalism when it comes to sound production and mixing. Everything sounds right while there’s a true symbiose between music and vocals. I’m into the most danceable cuts like “Autogenic”, “Totem And Taboo” and “Neurons” which are pumped by some Techno elements. Another great and danceable cut is “Teach Me How To Techno” featuring deep, resonating sounds. Emese Arvai-Illes’ very special and frozen timbre of voice remains pure lust for the ears.
– – – : The atypical Electro-Pop format might be a no-go for narrow minded Electro-Pop lovers.
Conclusion: Black Nail Cabaret stands for cold-, elegant-, provocative-, intriguing- and visionary Electro-Pop. Respect!
Best songs: “Neurons”,“Autogenic”, “Totem And Taboo”, “Teach Me How To Techno”, “Darkness Is a Friend”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/bncband
Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records Read the news on ‘Chrysanthemum’.
About Black Nail Cabaret
Black Nail Cabaret is an electro-pop noir duo from Hungary, established in 2008 with members Emese ‘Emke’ Arvai-Illes (vocals) and Krisztian Arvai (keyboards). The group initially formed in Budapest and later spent several years based in London. Sophie Tarr, an original member responsible for keyboards, left the duo in 2016 to pursue her own music project. The band’s music, often described as visual synthpop or synth noir, sometimes incorporates experimental elements.
Before forming Black Nail Cabaret, both performers were involved in the Budapest industrial/cyber party scene and co-founded a small theatre group, Art Macabre, in 2005, focused on horror-themed stage performances at the Merlin Theatre in Budapest. The duo’s music foundation was built on Emke’s transition from writing Hungarian poetry to English lyrics and Sophie’s piano compositions.
“Chrysanthemum,” reviewed here, is the band’s sixth studio album via Dependent Records, preceded by the singles “Autogenic,” “Roadtrip” and “Darkness Is A Friend.”
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