Bloodwire

Before the word reached me of Hungry Lucy touring with this band, I had only heard of them in related circles and articles. I've listened to the album several times as I often do before doing a review and it has been growing on me. While I love diversity, heaveny female vocals and a wide range of electronic music, not all trip-hop or related music immediately hits me as something more than just pop or smooth jazzy hip hop or soul with a darker feel.

However, this album does have something that immediately grabbed my attention and made me pay attention and listen. While I-Li's vocals are heavenly and sultry, combining the awesome emotional textures with a solid no-nonsense tone, it was really the combination of these vocals with the unique and diverse electronic soundscapes that caught my attention. These vary from the harsh, almost industrial rhythms and resonating synths to the smooth neo-classical elements, but always keeping something of a rhythm and beat moving it along.

Favorite tracks that stand out with these diverse styles attracted my attention from the very first song "Boardwater" which I immediately picked for a selection for the radio. After the smooth intro, this gradually builds with a nice mid-tempo beat and solid vocals. "Overdue" hit me as something more moving and edgier with up-beat percussion and harsher electronics while I-Li tones down the harshness into something personal and meaningful. Others were a mix of these two, and I describe them as electronic shoegazer, starting slow and building into something more and more intense to a climax near the end and suddengly fading out leaving the listener breathless. A frenzy of emotion, music and swirling textures.

The "pop" element is in their music from track to track, yet even the most eclectic listener will find something enjoyable on this album. From the pop-laiden track "Accusations", the electronics and overall feel gradually bring the listener back into the underground realm where the black-clad listener can feel isolated and not so exposed. The entire album drifts in and out of all of these styles and diversities winding up in the finale "Remains" which seems to be something of a simple ballad that is catchy and memorable, leaving the same impression on the listener for the album as a whole.

Rating: 4/5 - Gothic Paradise

While the dreamy, reverb-soaked guitars and multi-layered vocals on such tracks as “Boardwater” or the jazzy groove of “Remains” might at first seem reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins, Chang’s voice is a lot more grounded than Liz Fraser’s, less dizzyingly weird and thus a lot more emotionally accessible. Brice’s production work is also immediate and easy to relate to. His electronic roots shine through in the soft ambience of “Spring To Life” or the melodic trip-hop rhythm of “Hallway,” but the mixture of Chang’s vocal immediacy and judiciously placed guitars keep this from trailing off into indulgent laptop territory. “Absence,” for example, starts off as a delicate ballad laced with minimal keyboards and drum machines, but bursts to life with strummed guitars, while the mixture of synthesizer and slow, wall-of-sound chords on “Relinquish” call to mind the best moments of Curve. With the current spate of black-clad pop punks in mainstream radio, Bloodwire hearkens back to bands like Garbage and the Cure that were able to create dark-edged, introspective music that still had popular appeal. Make no mistake, though; Bloodwire has a thoroughly modern sound that’s all their own, and it’s superb. - Grave Concerns

The hook with this band, must be "Overdue" which is reminiscent of the mid 80's New Romatic Movement(UK) and bands like Human League & Duran Duran. But then it opens out into something different, clear haunting vocals ( in Boardwater for example) over the top of beautiful melodies.

So once you've ran youself to exaustion with the high energy stuff. Give this a try ;)

4 of 5 stars. - Radio Free Abattoir

Bloodwire isn’t afraid to experiment and play with different styles. Some tracks are ambient, some are energetic pop. The one thing that stays the same is the integrity of each song.

There is a lot of electronic influence in their music. What’s unusual is that they somehow master the art of keeping the winter’s cold out of the electronic sound. That’s not the easiest thing to accomplish. The tracks also flow into one another very nicely. The album as a whole is a very solid piece of work.

- Babble And Beat

Blending delicate electronic sounds with guitar rock and
amazing female vocal leads, Bloodwire is a diverse electronica outfit
destined to marry many sounds to forge their own voice. “Absence” is a tune
that Radiohead fans could turn to while wait for Thom Yorke and crew to
produce another barnburner. Their rash use of emotional outpourings is
refreshing considering electronica’s typically bleak, emotionless, and
tense background. The beats are quite good and can be even
club-friendly on songs like “Overdue”, which would have even the trendiest
clubbers scratching their heads wondering who the DJ was playing. - www.smother.net

Falling somewhere between Poe and Portishead is Oakland, California’s Bloodwire. Comprised of Shawn Brice (formerly of the Goth/industrial outfit Battery) and I-Li Chang, this duo meshes dreamy vocals and lush electronics on their debut album, Transformation. “Overdue” is what would happen if Fiona Apple plugged in her piano, while “Hallway” could be an (even more) feminine Marc Almond song. There is a pained beauty in I-Li’s vocals... Points for the gorgeous CD packaging with its light blue casing contrasting with a rose just starting to bloom; an apt image for this distinctive new band.

- TheSickAmongThePure .com

“Transformation” is the debut album of Bloodwire` s duo, Shawn Brice (formerly of Battery) and I-Li Chang. The album has an intimate and daydream sound of delicate synthesizer entwined with the tender and spellbinding voice of I-Li. The atmosphere is rich in melody and emotion, but subdued in gloom and darkness. An album of ethereal electro beauty!

By Morticia Devine - Underground Press