Iris – Six (CD Album – Dependent Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-pop.
Background/Info: American duo Reagan Jones (vocals), and Andrew Sega (music & production) have achieved their sixth full length album, which comes twenty year after “Disconnect” (1999). It also is their first new work since 2014 and the “Radiant Complete Edition”. Notice by the way the album is also available in a vinyl edition and limited edition featuring a bonus disc with new songs and remixes plus a booklet.
Content: “Six” sounds pretty Iris-like, which stands for a unique blend between dark, melancholic pop music and some harder arrangements with on top the sexy vocals of Reagan Jones. Some passages reveal a kind of bombast while other pieces feature astral bleeps. The songs have something romantic-wave like and the melancholic touch is definitely running throughout the entire production.
+ + + : “Six” takes off with the alluring “Third Strike”, which is a brilliant piece of dark electro-pop with outstanding vocals. This band has always had something unique, which means they’re not really comparable to other formations. I don’t want to compare them to Mesh, but both formations have a very proper sound DNA and I guess it’s not a coincidence they’re both signed at Dependent. It’s hard to say if “Six” is the best Iris album so far, but it’s without a shadow of a doubt the most mature one. This album can make you dance, but still has to power to make you cry. There’s a perfect balance between danceable tunes and melancholia.
– – – : You don’t hear me complaining about “Six”, but I think there’s maybe even more potential in this album than what came out. It feels like some songs could have reached a higher climax. I’m really curious what it would sound like when working together with a renowned producer.
Conclusion: Iris is a band that has seriously evolved throughout the years, but “Six” has gained such a high degree of maturity it’s all the question how the next album would sound like. Iris sounds like the sonic alchemists of electro-pop!
Best songs: “Third Strike, “Take The Pain”, “Pure White Snow”, “Feeder”, “One Kind”.
Rate: (8½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/iris.radiant
Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
