Eerie Wanda - Internal Radio Review
Internal Radio is the soundtrack to a new era of Eerie Wanda that brings her creativity to new levels.
Since fourteen years old, Marina Tadic has been writing songs. Inspired by groups like The Velvet Underground and Young Marble Giants, her pension for creating music is physical in its power to move the listener and has only become stronger over time. Her latest release, Internal Radio, takes her sound to new heights, combining ethereal dream pop with desolate shoegaze in beautiful unity.
The album begins with heavy keys and atmospheric vocals in "Sail To The Silver Sun." The track meanders towards the silver sun while the percussion checks time like a ballad out of a heavenly dream. Optimistic horns lead the airwaves over top of Tadic's smooth lyrics. Harmonizing words are sung from atmospheric backup vocals.
"NOWx1000" changes the pace into a dauntingly slow crawl. The harmonies across the track seem to drift from the sky, as with many other tracks on this record. Eerie electric guitar and heavy keys make this feel as if the dream has turned sinister, yet soon flows a familiar, steady piano that calms and comforts.
“Long Time” was the second single released from Internal Radio earlier this year. Its reception solidified the change in Tadic's evolution in music, combining ethereal vocals with folk-like twangs of old-school country love songs. It stands out as a song filled with lyrics of certainty that comes with time.
“On Heaven” brings with it a daunting presence. Stomping keys gallop before whispered lyrics confirm the speaker's dedication to another. As lighter keys bounce around in the background, their notice comes most apparent towards the end of the song. This track is uncanny and strange. Not too long before it starts, the sound is washed over by the beginning of something much louder and organized, but too is washed away by a quick silence.
“Confess” opens with rushing ambient winds and solemn notes from a piano as ever-slowly more optimistic layers of keys prance in the background. Tadic's vocals arrive, commanding attention. Her resolute lyrics paint scenes of pity and emptiness. Decorated with slicing, eerie strings, the song's last moments haunt the listener before being consumed by nothingness.
“Nightwalk” fades in from the emptiness with the calming strumming of an acoustic guitar. Soaring harmonies carry through the light winds from above. This feeling of solidarity travels with the song as it goes, creating safety in an otherwise unexpected place.
The organs in “Someone's In My House” stand out immediately from the previous sounds of the record. Supernatural in their echoes, they play an oppressive background to the track, only to be accompanied by some of Tadic's best songwriting on the album. The heavy thumping bass drums that knock on the proverbial door showcase a sort of paranoia pop that introduces a sinister feel to an otherwise ambiguous album.
“Sister Take My Hand” was the third single released off of this album and attempts to steady the listener from the terror of the previous track. Slow and steady, Tadic layers strings over harmonies and affirming vocals, begging for trust in what feels like dark and ominous times. Reassuring the listener only for uncertainty to creep in on the next track.
“Birds Aren't Real” reintroduces paranoia in a satisfying way. With complex layering of echoing guitar chords, the introduction of this song swarms through the listener's ears. Her vocals come through like glowing knives between the mosaic chords in a beautiful way. While Tadic wrote the album, she received production help from NY native Kramer. His work with bands such as Ween, Butthole Surfers, and Half Japanese has given way to a long and successful career. His touches on this album are all phenomenal, but this track might be some of his best work with Tadic.
The Netherlands is essentially the midwest of Europe, right? The midwest emo vibes on the guitars throughout “Puzzled” take the listener to a melancholy and magnificent place. Percussion in an almost ambient form keeps the track pumping at a heightened pace. Tadic's vocals syncopate with every range and form beautiful lyrics that grace the landscape of this song. Once again, like the fluttering of consciousness in and out of dreams, the track wipes clean with a warm invitation to carry on.
Bells ring in the final song from Internal Radio. “Bon Voyage” is the shortest track on this record and the only instrumental. It is the last moment before starting a journey somewhere new. It is leaving behind the familiarity of your home to experience something new. Something that can save even the most uncertain of souls. The optimism rings through every bell crack, signifying the hour's importance. It is simple in its composition but elaborate in its value, closing the curtains on an experience unlike Tadic has ever produced.
Internal Radio is the soundtrack to a new era of Eerie Wanda that brings her creativity to new levels. Each moment throughout this album is perfectly paced. The instrumentals take their time while the vocals float along like guardian angles. Each aspect of this record, across all the forms and sounds, compliments each other in a hauntingly beautiful way. While uncertainty and suspicion loom over this album in the darkest parts, the resoluteness and comfort balance with each other in perfect harmony.