Cargo Records

Paradise

10 powerful, straightforward songs brimming with synthesizers, strings, horns and melodies that could have been made by no one else. Hecuba's Paradise is a vibrant record with broad strokes and intense details

It is Visual Music that speaks through images. In the song "Miles Away", a group of flutes becomes an ambulance siren. On "Tom & Jerry," a synth smack is a cartoon cat's fist. A dissonant choir embodies a woman's unconscious thoughts in "Extra Connection," and a detached, automated voice morphs into a bare, screaming saxophone in The Magic".

As comfortable on the dance floor as in the concert hall, Paradise moves from sparse, introspective moments to harsh, violent crashes and syncopated beats; from Ranchero trumpet blasts to full on orchestral pop, and 50's crooner electro-bop. Even with such a stylistic range and new ideas at every turn, the record remains pure and incisive. The story of Paradise permeates throughout. Miles Away" is an eclectic and fabulously avant garde track complete with African-inspired drums, sirens, cutting synths, and fabulous alliteration.

The track continues to build into a fever pitch by the end. To put it bluntly Paradise is fabulously weird and not in an ironic lets-fuck-around-with-keyboards-and-call-it-art kind of way. There is significant thought behind this record. Tough to get a handle on their unique distillation of influences, Hecuba's music is just as at home with Kanye West, Andre 3000 and Roisin Murphy as it is with Herbert, Lucky Dragons and Arthur Russell.

Hecuba is Isabelle Albuquerque and Jon Beasley. They were first recognized for their powerful and fearless live performances.