Eades - 'Present In the Moment'
Leeds quintet Eades continue their eruptive skywards trajectory with new single ‘Present In The Moment’, a track dripping with intoxicating angst and liberally deployed irony.
The group first made waves last year with a string of successful releases including their first album, and made their live debut moments before lockdown descended on the UK. It’s unsurprising, though, that a group whose members and collaborators include musicians known for Far Caspian, Vraell, English Teacher and Dharma Wilde haven’t whiled away the past twelve months in a milieu of endless Netflix binges.
Instead, they’ve been working on their second EP Abstract Education. If ‘Present in The Moment’, the band’s second single of 2021, is indicative of the rest of the album, it promises to be a lively listen full of tracks that beg to be performed live ASAP.
Lead singer and guitarist Harry Jordan’s cutting voice, with contemptuously stretched vowel sounds, echoes The Clash’s Joe Strummer, and the rest of the band brings a vigorous energy to match. The lyrics are underlined by a funky bassline, wandering electric guitar and fast-tempo drumbeat with a jaunty cowbell hot on it’s heels.
Jordan’s half-shouted vocals and the song’s heavy instrumentation may seem an acerbic response to the zen concept to which its title alludes. It was written following a dispute with the singer and songwriter’s partner, and he explains: “I wrote the lyrics just after we’d had an argument because apparently I wasn't “present in the moment”... I hate to admit it but she was probably right”. The track’s upbeat energy and punchy swagger is all the more impressive for a piece that is somewhat bitter and self-deprecating in origin.
On paper, lyrics like “Now I’m shaking, tapping, all the signs I’m not present in the moment again” could suggest that the singer is recounting a failed quest for unattainable mindfulness; blasted through a speaker, they’re spat with irony and carried by a chaotic, punk rhythm and create a feeling of proud defiance.
The single and forthcoming album are also punk in spirit, recorded in the band’s own studio (Bam Bam Studios), onto an analog tape recorder with instruments played sans click track.
Alongside Jordan, Eades comprises TomO'Reilly on lead guitar, Dave Lancaster on bass, Dan Clifford-Smith on drums and Lily Fontaine providing synths, percussion, and backing vocals. The resulting noise has the effect of evoking equal passion in the listener as evidently went into the song’s production and continues to propel the group to exponential acclaim.
Words by Joe Buncle