Our Banshee - 4200 [Digipak]

2017 release. Synergies between two opposite musical characters often produce most amazing results. Whether it is Mark Verhaeghen and Dirk Ivens in the old days of The Klinik or Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb in Front Line Assembly: If a diverse duo can agree on a joint artistic vision and modus operandi, the result may be something greater than just the sum of it's parts. This often becomes clear when successful artists release solo records, which usually cannot compete with the quality of their collaboration. In the case of Our Banshee, such a great synergy already exists, and even if members Agi Taralas (Greece) and industrial/noise expert Stefan Böhm (Germany) are just about to release their debut record "4200", you can already state that this collaboration is a convergence of talent with great potential. While Singer Taralas comes from a classic songwriting and electronic pop background, Stefan Böhm gathered some notoriety with Projects like Pzychobitch and Nullvektor as well as a DJ spinning this type of music. These two very different musical backgrounds resulted in an electronic work with a lot of character, and while it certainly shows influences of acts like Neurotic Fish, Second Voice or Bigod 20, Our Banshee are by no means copycats of said bands. Although 4200 does have a certain EBM feel, it is a hotbed for individuality, variety and some other quality that would suit every album well: great songwriting and strong vocals. You will have to listen to this enigmatically titled record a handful of times to fully notice these qualities, but then it becomes obvious that these are two highly professionals at work who deliver a well-rounded piece and one of the most impressive debuts this year.