photo courtesy of joshua wildman "She always wore a handkerchief to hide her balding head // Let me eat the berries // She'd grown on her red door step..."
The allure here is the darkness and Melina's tales that are less of a connected story but a series of random occurrences recounted as a story draws you in, not only because how artistic this ride is but maybe because your brain is trying to make story connections the entire time. There is no discernable vocal chorus but maybe a musical one. This kind of randomness feels somewhat adjacent to talking heads but whereas Byrne would feel oddly quirky, this feels like a ride on a New York subway when all the lights mysteriously go out.
I have to plagiarize myself because what I wrote on a previous review of another track of this album feels suited to this as well:
"The talky style not reminiscent of but not unlike Dry Cleaning or black midi makes for a performance art framework of sorts but utterly cinematic too, that is if the directors were J.T. Mollner and Oz Perkins. "
Point being that I find Aitis Band's sound so incredibly cinematic and would be a wonderful tool of film makers, of all sorts really, but especially the Yorgos Lanthimos strain of director. Below are the lyrics, that speak to me, especially the "bat" incident since last year we had 3 different occasions that we had to deal with a bat in our mountain home.
LYRICS
She always wore a handkerchief to hide her balding head
Let me eat the berries
She'd grown on her red door step
Her husband always wore a skirt
Collected artifacts
Revolution-era guns and bayonets
I used to watch their children
And teach them to potty train
The horse got out one summer night
It's head had slipped the reign
One night a little bat got in
I called Mr. Bill Thane
The brother of the skirt guy
He killed it with a spade
I dreamt about Dan
He looked the same
His red hair was still red
But his chest looked like a man
We were back at Mohawk
Colors blue and gold
The warrior watched over us
On the basketball court
We saw each other once more
By chance on the train
I said “don’t ask”
When he looked at the book in my hand
-Robb Donker Curtius
Let me eat the berries
She'd grown on her red door step
Her husband always wore a skirt
Collected artifacts
Revolution-era guns and bayonets
I used to watch their children
And teach them to potty train
The horse got out one summer night
It's head had slipped the reign
One night a little bat got in
I called Mr. Bill Thane
The brother of the skirt guy
He killed it with a spade
I dreamt about Dan
He looked the same
His red hair was still red
But his chest looked like a man
We were back at Mohawk
Colors blue and gold
The warrior watched over us
On the basketball court
We saw each other once more
By chance on the train
I said “don’t ask”
When he looked at the book in my hand
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Aitis Band is a combination of haunted houses and that’s what she said jokes. The trio’s funny, morbid, lyric-driven songs literally report on what she said and how scary it was. Since 2019 former Joan of Arc members Bobby Burg (Love of Everything) and Melina Ausikaitis continue their collaboration with the addition of visual artist/musician Ray Borchers. Aitis Band indulge their love of clubbing, teen girl-ness, and tragic figures, both real and imagined, with songs that range from wistful ballads to anthemic noise-fests. They hang in a purgatory between too much art school and just enough 80’s night. Ausikaitis’ vocals slide easily into a funereal bath water that Burg and Borchers slowly turn up to a boil.]
[The Band’s instrumentation is dueling Roland eg101 drum machines/keyboards and a MicroKorg. Controlling 3 keyboards at once, Ray uses weights to set drones while adding new notes with her hands and feet. Melina plays a stringless fake guitar with a contact mic through Earthquaker Devices effect pedals and sings. Bobby plays bass.]
[AITIS BAND - IV is their 4th album and was produced by former bandmate Nate Kinsella. Nate also mixed Aitis Band - III as well as Joan of Arc’s -1984 & Tim Melina Theo Bobby.]
An added layer here is the engaging Official Video directed by Joe Pankowski.
[Dan is a handful of those memories that pop up every year or two. The ones that make you feel weird or wonder if you might have been in love. Our response is like, oh yeah yeah yeah. Joe Pankowski’s music video of playful drawings depicts this series of random moments, filtering them through words and lines.-- aitis band ]
So much fun.
[Dan is a handful of those memories that pop up every year or two. The ones that make you feel weird or wonder if you might have been in love. Our response is like, oh yeah yeah yeah. Joe Pankowski’s music video of playful drawings depicts this series of random moments, filtering them through words and lines.-- aitis band ]
So much fun.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3sL1CQLqDwZfkULaNSo0Zm
https://aitisband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/aitisband/
https://www.facebook.com/aitisband/
Aitis Band is a combination of haunted houses and that’s what she said jokes. The trio’s funny, morbid, lyric-driven songs literally report on what she said and how scary it was. Since 2019 former Joan of Arc members Bobby Burg (Love of Everything) and Melina Ausikaitis continue their collaboration with the addition of visual artist/musician Ray Borchers. Aitis Band indulge their love of clubbing, teen girl-ness, and tragic figures, both real and imagined, with songs that range from wistful ballads to anthemic noise-fests. They hang in a purgatory between too much art school and just enough 80’s night. Ausikaitis’ vocals slide easily into a funereal bath water that Burg and Borchers slowly turn up to a boil.
Since October 2019 Aitis Band has played throughout the US, sharing bills with Dry Cleaning, Circuit des Yeux, Black Dice, Parquet Courts, Jesus Lizard, No Age, Robert AA Lowe, Ryley Walker, Dustin Wong, Air Waves, Man on Man, and a midwest tour opening for American Football.
The Band’s instrumentation is dueling Roland eg101 drum machines/keyboards and a MicroKorg. Controlling 3 keyboards at once, Ray uses weights to set drones while adding new notes with her hands and feet. Melina plays a stringless fake guitar with a contact mic through Earthquaker Devices effect pedals and sings. Bobby plays bass.
AITIS BAND - IV is their 4th album and was produced by former bandmate Nate Kinsella. Nate also mixed Aitis Band - III as well as Joan of Arc’s -1984 & Tim Melina Theo Bobby.
https://aitisband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/aitisband/
https://www.facebook.com/aitisband/
Aitis Band is a combination of haunted houses and that’s what she said jokes. The trio’s funny, morbid, lyric-driven songs literally report on what she said and how scary it was. Since 2019 former Joan of Arc members Bobby Burg (Love of Everything) and Melina Ausikaitis continue their collaboration with the addition of visual artist/musician Ray Borchers. Aitis Band indulge their love of clubbing, teen girl-ness, and tragic figures, both real and imagined, with songs that range from wistful ballads to anthemic noise-fests. They hang in a purgatory between too much art school and just enough 80’s night. Ausikaitis’ vocals slide easily into a funereal bath water that Burg and Borchers slowly turn up to a boil.
Since October 2019 Aitis Band has played throughout the US, sharing bills with Dry Cleaning, Circuit des Yeux, Black Dice, Parquet Courts, Jesus Lizard, No Age, Robert AA Lowe, Ryley Walker, Dustin Wong, Air Waves, Man on Man, and a midwest tour opening for American Football.
The Band’s instrumentation is dueling Roland eg101 drum machines/keyboards and a MicroKorg. Controlling 3 keyboards at once, Ray uses weights to set drones while adding new notes with her hands and feet. Melina plays a stringless fake guitar with a contact mic through Earthquaker Devices effect pedals and sings. Bobby plays bass.
AITIS BAND - IV is their 4th album and was produced by former bandmate Nate Kinsella. Nate also mixed Aitis Band - III as well as Joan of Arc’s -1984 & Tim Melina Theo Bobby.
Aitis Band, gothic, darkwave, industrial, abstract indie, alt rock, electronica, performance art, "Dan" (Official Video), horror pop, existential pop, absurdist rock, 4th album "IV", lead vocalist Melina Ausikaitis,
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