| Eve | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 19, 2016 | |||
| Recorded | Fall 2015 | |||
| Studio | Kimchee Records, Cambridge, MA | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, Blues rock, Indie rock | |||
| Length | 47:07 | |||
| Label | Thrill Jockey | |||
| Producer | Andy Hong | |||
| Thalia Zedek chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Boston Globe | Positive [1] |
| The Quietus | Positive [2] |
| Blurt |   [3] |
| The Skinny | [4] |
| Mojo |   [5] |
| Financial Times | [6] |
| Q | [7] |
Eve is Thalia Zedek's sixth solo album, released three years after Via .
Released by Thrill Jockey on August 19, 2016, three years after her previous solo album Via , Eve was recorded in the Fall of 2015 at Kimchee Studios, in Cambridge, MA. Zedek's third solo album to be credited to the Thalia Zedek Band, Eve was engineered and mixed by Andy Hong, while Andy Guthrie recorded the percussion on three songs, namely, "Afloat", "You Will Wake", and "Northwest Branch". Eve was mastered by Heba Kadry at Timeless Mastering in November 2015.
The process of writing the songs for Eve was different from that of Zedek's previous records, as the band "recorded a fair amount of songs that [they] hadn't played live before [they] recorded them." [8] She reflected that "[w]hen you're writing in the studio, it lends a different, more reflective feel to the music." [9]
Zedek has characterised Eve as "darker than [her] last few albums," listing globalisation, economic instability, the internet, and global warming as some of the reasons why her songwriting has taken an even more sombre turn. [10] The title of the album refers to the anxiety regarding being at the brink of change. As Zedek puts it, "I feel like we are on the eve of something momentous. It may be the eve of a new era, or the eve of destruction, I don't know." [11]
Eve was Zedek's first album to feature Jonathan Ulman—who also contributed to her 2014 EP Six—on drums.
Hilken Mancini (Fuzzy, Shepherdess) contributed back-up vocals for "Afloat", the album's opening song.
All songs and lyrics by Thalia Zedek.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Afloat" | Thalia Zedek | 6:47 |
| 2. | "360°" | Thalia Zedek | 3:24 |
| 3. | "By the Hand" | Thalia Zedek | 4:37 |
| 4. | "Illumination" | Thalia Zedek | 4:19 |
| 5. | "You Will Wake" | Thalia Zedek | 4:47 |
| 6. | "Northwest Branch" | Thalia Zedek | 6:06 |
| 7. | "Not Farewell" | Thalia Zedek | 7:36 |
| 8. | "Walking in Time" | Thalia Zedek | 6:11 |
| 9. | "All I Need" | Thalia Zedek | 3:20 |
On Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [12] In his review for The Quietus, Neil Kulkarni stated that Eve includes "some of the best songs [Zedek has] ever written," going on to claim that she always manages "to map out a territory in songwriting that's almost entirely her own." [13] In his four-star review of the album for Blurt, John Schacht describes the material in Eve as "extended, slow-burn songs [...] that evolve from quiet viola and/or piano-accented meditations into emotionally cathartic maelstroms built mostly around [Zedek's] biting guitar." [14] Ludovic Hunter-Tinley, in his praising, four-star review of Eve for The Financial Times, called it "a tribute to uncompromising artistic survival." [15] In his review for The Skinny, Gary Kaill called Eve "a collection of upfront confessionals that fuses guitar, bass and drums into a hellfire brew," going on to laud Zedek, stating that "there are few artists whose commitment to performance is so absolute and fearless." [16]
Nocturne is a live double album and video by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 25 November 1983 by Polydor Records. Co-produced by Mike Hedges, Nocturne features performances recorded at two shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on 30 September and 1 October 1983, featuring Robert Smith on guitar.
Come is an American alternative rock band, formed in Boston by Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, Arthur Johnson (drums), and Sean O'Brien (bass).
Chris Brokaw is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come and Codeine.
Pure is the second studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 April 1992 through Earache Records. Though originally labeled only as industrial metal, the album has since been recognised as one of the earliest post-metal releases. Musically, Pure is rhythmically mechanical and features harsh guitars, with protracted songs and an abundance of deliberate repetition. Like much of Godflesh's music, it is regarded as particularly heavy and aggressive, and these elements helped it gain critical acclaim.
Thalia Zedek is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Uzi both of which, according to Spin magazine, "made big noise in the underground", and Come. Critic Heather Phares writes that Zedek's music can be defined by "the permanent, aching rasp in her voice, her guitar's bluesy bite, the startlingly clear-eyed lyrics about life and loss."
Sebastian Rochford is a British drummer and composer. He has recorded and released music as leader of the British band Polar Bear, as Kutcha Butcha and as part of numerous collaborations.
The Great Annihilator is the ninth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on January 23, 1995, through frontman Michael Gira's own record label, Young God. The album has been described by Gira as a companion album to his solo album Drainland (1995); the two were remastered and re-released together in April 2017.
Live Skull is a post-punk/experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell is the second album by Boston indie rock band Come.
The Fauns are a British rock band that formed in 2007 in Bristol, England. The band consists of Alison Garner (vocals), Will Slater (guitar), Michael Savage (bass) and Guy Rhys-Davies (drums).
The Glowing Man is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans, released on June 17, 2016 on Young God and Mute. It is considered the third and final part of a three-album "trilogy", the other two parts being The Seer and To Be Kind.
Desperate Journalist are an English, London-based post-punk band, formed in 2012. They released their debut album, the self-titled Desperate Journalist, in 2014, on Fierce Panda Records. A second album, Grow Up, was released in March 2017. The band's third album, In Search of the Miraculous, was released in February 2019. A fourth album, Maximum Sorrow!, was released on 2 July 2021
Oxygène 3 is the nineteenth studio album by the French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Announced via a post on Jarre's Instagram account, the album was released on 2 December 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the original Oxygène album.
Tom Skinner is an English drummer, percussionist and record producer. He co-founded the jazz band Sons of Kemet and the rock band the Smile. He has released two albums under the name Hello Skinny. His first album under his own name, Voices of Bishara, was released in November 2022.
Been Here and Gone is Thalia Zedek's debut solo album, following the demise of Come, her previous band.
Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch of Madness is Thalia Zedek's third solo album, released under two months after Hell is in Hello.
Liars and Prayers is Thalia Zedek's fourth solo album, released four years after Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch of Madness.
Via is Thalia Zedek's fifth solo album, released five years after Liars and Prayers.
Fighting Season is Thalia Zedek's seventh solo album, released two years after Eve.
Perfect Vision is the eighth solo album by Thalia Zedek, released on August 27, 2021, three years after Fighting Season.
