Echoberyl – Through The Chaos (Digital/CD/Vinyl Album – Icy Cold Records / Mother Solitude Records)
Paris-based duo Echoberyl, featuring Cecilia Dassonneville and producer/mixer Adriano Iacoangeli, returned this year with “Through The Chaos”. The album is pure Cold-Wave with a minimalist edge; simple yet powerful and irresistibly infectious. Cecilia’s seductive vocals, marked by her distinct French accent, add an alluring quality to each track. Rather than relying on traditional melodies, the songs are built on cold, melodic sequences. The rhythms are highly danceable, though occasional melancholic and ethereal sections add variety, even if they’re not the album’s strongest moments. Both the digital and CD versions include bonus tracks, including a heavier, slightly EBM-influenced piece. New listeners may find Echoberyl’s sound compelling and hard to resist. (Rating:8½).
Echoberyl later discussed the album in the Echoberyl interview published on Side-Line.
Listen to “Lady M”:
About Echoberyl
Echoberyl is a Paris-based duo formed by singer and lyricist Cecilia Dassonneville and producer Adriano Iacoangeli. The two met at the end of 2018, recorded a first set of songs, and signed their first label contract after sending out a demo. Their music mixes cold-wave, pop and indie-rock elements.
The project moved from an early guitar-driven, post-punk-oriented sound toward increasingly electronic productions. From the second album on, Dassonneville has written concept albums: “The Awakening Of A Mutant Girl” was conceived as a B-movie without images, while “Mother Solitude and Other Dark Tales”, released in October 2021 and preceded by the EP “Salomé (Suffer Me)”, collected characters and stories mostly inspired by literature.
“Through The Chaos”, the duo’s fourth album, was released on May 3, 2024 by Icy Cold Records and Mother Solitude Records. The concept album explores parallel worlds and draws inspiration from the 1960s series “Twilight Zone”. The music is by Echoberyl, the lyrics by Cecilia Dassonneville, and Adriano Iacoangeli produced, mixed and mastered the album in Paris, Meaux and Montreuil. It is also the duo’s first release on vinyl, alongside the CD and digital editions reviewed here.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
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