ETH – Somewhere But Here (Album – ScentAir Records)

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: ETH aka Egil Thomas Hansen is a Norwegian project and a side-project from one of the Supercraft members. “Somewhere But Here” is the artist’s solo-debut featuring eight songs.

Content: The opening cut is driven by a dark and heavy, bouncing EBM touch while the vocals are rather Pop-like. This opening song is not totally representative of the album, which is progressively getting ‘sweeter’ and definitely Electro-Pop like. But the deep, vibrating sensation remains a red line throughout the work. The work reveals melodic parts while some classical retro passages might remind to Erasure (cf. “Smallest Little Things”). But I also noticed a moiré danceable song (cf. “Without You”), which is carried by a solid Dance/Trance lead. There also is the more sensual-like “The Memoir”.

+ + + : ETH has a talent to write cool melody lines and that’s for sure one of the main strengths of this production. One of the best songs also is one of the most cliché ones; I refer to the somewhat Erasure-like “Smallest Little Things”. “For All The Wrong Intentions” is another efficient track when it comes to the melody lines.

– – – : It’s probably intentional, but the production has something rough and unpolished, which is mainly accentuated by the low vibrating sounds. It creates a demo effect, which can’t convince me when listening to Electro-Pop. The production of the vocals can’t convince me. Last, but not least the final song is a poorly inspired end for an album, which only features 8 songs.

Conclusion: I expected a bit more from this artist who’s already involved with music for several years now. The global production has to be improved.

Best songs: “Smallest Little Things”, “For All The Wrong Intentions”.

Rate: (5).

Artist: www.facebook.com/egilthomashansen

Label: www.scent-air.com / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords

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