Fresh off the back of their killer debut album ‘The New Eve Is Rising’ – and a string of dates supporting indie innovators Black Country, New Road amid their own triumphant headline run – you might expect the Brighton four-piece to set their instruments aside and take a well-earned breather. But The New Eves have never been ones to follow the script.
Instead, we’ve been treated to two triumphant new tracks – ‘Red Brick’ and ‘Whale Station’ – with the double A-side arriving barely a month after their acclaimed debut. The former is sharp and urgent, recorded just nine days after the album’s release yet already charting fresh sonic territory. As the tempo gathers with deliberate restraint, vocalist Violet Farrer delivers her driving poetic monologue, underscored by a fuzzed-out, spiralling guitar line from cellist Nina Winder-Lind – her first foray into lead guitar. It’s cathartic, compelling, and clearly the sound of a band in evolution.
Next comes ‘Whale Station’, which the band recall as having begun “last summer as an inspired jam in a little house in the Swedish countryside. Ella started reading words from this book called ‘Whale Nation’, and it was almost like she was speaking in tongues. It had such a fervour to it — we were all out of breath at the end.” That same fervour pulses through the track itself: driven by clunking bass and jagged piano chords, The New Eves channel a newfound ferocity and bite. Echoes of ’90s riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear rumble beneath their signature alt-folk textures, shaping an eccentric, eerie, and unapologetically impassioned environmentalist ballad.
More than a mere companion piece, ‘Red Brick / Whale Station’ stands as a statement of intent — proof that The New Eves’ creative momentum shows no sign of waning. With each release, they continue to push against their own boundaries, and these two tracks may well be among their finest yet.
Words: Asa Hill Photo: Katie Silvester