Just a little more than two months after the announcement that vocalist Taylor Rea and guitarist Rob Bastien were leaving the adored area electronic act Ishi to start a project of their own, the twosome is ready to unveil their new sound.
Called Zhora, the group's sound picks up at a place not too far away from Ishi's. It's dancy stuff, as should've been expected; but whereas Ishi mined something of a house influence on its more dance-inducing numbers, Zhora's influence seems to be culled from more of an indie sphere. But that's not to say that the band's sound is formulaic. Not at all.
Listening to "Sunset," the very first Zhora single, influences as varied as LCD Soundsystem and Goldfrapp jump out. But, to hear the band members themselves describe it, their influence on this particular song is a much more recognizable figure.
"Sonically,
there's an early Madonna influence on this song," says Bastien, who was putting the finishing touches onto this track as recently as a few hours ago. "I'd hesitate to call
that our template, even though I love that stuff."
In fact, Bastien says rather candidly, there's really no template at all at this point. In describing "Sunset," he stresses that the song is "by no means" completed at this point. Instead, he prefers to call it a "tease."
From where we're sitting, though, it sure sounds pretty finished. See for yourself after the jump, where you can enjoy a free stream and download of the song, courtesy of the band.
Bonus MP3:
Zhora -- "Sunset"
Zhora -- "Sunset"
