What happens when you put Tori Amos, Yann Tiersen and two beautiful fairy-like ladies in a blender? Exactly: a fantastic combination of female voices, haunting cello, interesting melodies and magical compositions.
This EP containing six songs is a fabulous work of art on many different levels. First of all the songs are composed extremely well and the quality is amazing. The sound isn’t over engineered so you still have the authentic feeling of actual instruments being played, without sounding cheap or unbalanced. The voices and instruments of Jyoti and Maya are capable of taking you to deep seas and overgrown forests, whilst the compositions take you on a journey through the dark and light places of your own imagination.
The lyrics are basic and fit the whole feeling of the EP very well. No fancy words when they are not needed, and no excess music just to fill up blanks. Sometimes blanks, or in this case unexpected endings, can be surprising and fit the mood just right. Listening to the songs over and over I seem to discover new layers every time and I enjoy this EP on repeat.
One of the things I also love is the artwork in the booklet. Jyoti and Maya are both attractive, photogenic ladies and although the music speaks for itself, the photographs and digital art in the booklet surely reflect the mood of the songs.
If there is any downside to this EP then it would have to be that it only has six songs with a total of 21 minutes. I would love to see a full length album released somewhere in the near future so we can enjoy more of this fantastic duo.
The EP is available at concerts for 9 euro or via the website www.jyotiverhoeff.nl for 11 euro. You can also listen to samples from the EP and watch the beautiful video they have made for one of the songs there.
