Ever the promoter of sonic innovation and taste maker extraordinaire, 4000 Records, has rounded up two of Brisbane’s most exciting artists (and perennial favorites here at the antipodean headquarters of Backseat Mafia), Cloud Tangle and Fingerless, for a limited edition split single. The inspiration for this momentous occasion couldn’t be cooler: the release of the fourth and final season of the epic TV series Killing Eve. We are honoured to premiere this musical milestone.
Fittingly, each side of the single represents the enigmatic protagonists of the series, with Cloud Tangle’s ‘Eve’ about the dedicated and obsessive investigator played in the series by Sandra Oh, and Fingerless writing about the chilling assassin Villanelle played by Jodie Comer. Killing Eve, Cloud Tangle and Fingerless, curated by 4000 Records? There could not be a greater match made.
Fingerless are the musical chameleons of the Brisbane music scene, and it is thus fitting that they write about the mercurial Villanelle. After the uber pop of last year’s single ‘Leaf of Stone’, ‘Villanelle’ is an angular stabbing wall of noise: jittery and bordering on the insane like its namesake. Unsettling, unnerving walls of dissonant noises stab and provoke, but of course with an innate sense of style. Death metal utterings of the title name in the chorus create something quite chilling underneath the undulating synths while the verses show a barely restrained pop sensibility. A light xylophone tingle creates a tension as it skips over the top. Menacing and stylistic, this is Fingerless to its core and this is a perfect representation of the ‘Killing Eve’ character.
Marc Cheeseman from Fingerless says of the track:
For me, this song is about freedom from social norms. The line ‘I don’t want to perform for anybody’ (from the song) is not about performing music, it’s about performing an identity. Villanelle straight up doesn’t give a fuck about what people want or expect her to do. It may cause her a lot of problems, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. She is free.
The seeds of this collaboration in fact sprung from Cheeseman’s fertile imagination – he wrote the tribute to Villanelle, took it to John Russell at 4000 Records where they decided to bring in Amber Ramsay from Cloud Tangle for this special release to coincide with the final series of Killing Eve.
Cloud Tangle of course takes a diametrically opposite approach musically, but the result is the same: a nightmarish tone but delivered in Cloud Tangle’s ambient dream pop style. A somber organ glides into a motorik beat and Ramsay’s cold distant angelic vocals float in the ether. The character of Eve is perfectly embodied in the cloudy, billowing sounds – a sense of innocence and discombobulation as Ramsay repeats I can’t let you go into the outro. The track is effortlessly suave and sophisticated, befitting the obsessive qualities of its namesake who is also vulnerable and fragile despite a steely spine. Ramsay says of the track:
Eve radiates a contrasting softness, the underbelly of her character. There’s a ferocity and drive enveloping around this softness of collapsing into the chase of her desires, yet still masked by angst and zeal.
This is a triumph of a release: two musical groups at the peak of their respective genres inspired by a TV series that is just as immersive and compelling. The split single is available from 25 February 2022 on super limited splatter wax and through the usual download/streaming sites here.
Feature Photograph: Lyla Grey
