Power Ballads

Power Ballads is the debut album from Seaven Teares, a New York band formed in 2010 featuring singer/songwriter Charlie Looker (Extra Life, ex-Zs), experimental vocalist Amirtha Kidambi (Sequins and Skeletons), Robbie Lee (Howling Hex) on woodwinds, guitars and synth, and percussionist Russell Greenberg (Yarn/Wire).

Seaven Teares’ mostly acoustic sound brings together a number of disparate influences: dark post-Industrial folk (Death In June, Current 93), 1960’s co-ed pop folk groups (Mamas and the Papas, Ian & Sylvia), the drones and textures of modern composition and experimental improvisation, and the cold alien vocal harmonies of Gothic era liturgical music. The seven slow-burning songs shift between abstract raga-like meditations and straight melodic hooks, set against acoustic guitars, dark synth ambience, vibraphone, bells, and occasional harsh electronics, as well as authentic Medieval pump organ and recorders.

Radically reimagined cover songs are an important part of Seaven Teares’ repertoire. In addition to five originals, Power Ballads includes dismantled versions of Alice in Chains’ 1992 classic “Them Bones”, (featuring Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem) and depressive Renaissance composer John Dowland’s 1596 classic “Flow My Tears”.