Lythion
...From The Beginning
self-released

Lythion is performance artist/singer Ilyana Kadushin and multi-instrumentalist James Harrell. The two create a very cinematic, dynamic music. It's hard to fit into a genre, but it encompasses many styles.

"Travelling" is a torch song with a contemporary twist. It reminds me of David Sylvian's more jazz-tinted work from the eighties. "Blue Spot" has a bluesy vocal but the music is art rock. The band juggles their many influences skillfully. "Cocky Prick" is a marvelous song. Pure cabaret fun with a glam rock undertow and a sassy put-down of a lyric. Kadushin shines here.

"Champagne" sounds like a classic song. It's torchy and tragic in the vein of the great but obscure Abby Travis. "Perilous Mouth" is calm and gloriously glammy like a Bowie ballad from 1973.

...From The Beginning is a starling debut by a ground-breaking duo. One of the year's best records.

Copyright © 2004 Anna Maria Stjärnell