Euclid

After Euclid’s press, many in the music media are clueless as to placing the band in a fitting classification (shoegazing, gothic, alt-country and neo-folk), but adore them for whatever they represent; Carthage immediately manipulates your psyche with the snap, crackle and hiss of faux vinyl rotating on a phonograph. Then, on “Little Dove” Katrina Whitney’s vocals depressedly drawl and transmits as a cascading echo chamber. Unlike Shoegazing, the layered tracks do not overwhelm, but work progressively into dream pop. After the first piece, most stacking is used rather sparingly and the cd scores as an alluring Americana record. Gillian (Welch) is referenced because Whitney’s approach is very similar. As the Euclid entity, they revel in entrancing acoustics that fittingly float with Renee’s consistent and frequent vocal harmonizing -- Carthage is sinuously hypnotic! - Adam Mico

The opening track to this Seattle band's debut EP is as haunting as a past life you can almost recall. It's an old-time Appalachian-style vocal duet, between Katrina Whitney and Renee Raiteri, complete with needle drop and crackling record ambiance. The four tracks that follow are lush and dreamy acoustic based songs that play like somber prayers. Whitney's voice is chilling and Raiteri's hush harmonies are gingerly applied, as is her acoustic bass playing. Also adding to the lazy acoustic and resonator guitar moods are fiddle, light drums and a touch of pedal-steel. This perfect little package is tied together with a spooky slight return of the opening track. - Staff Review

Somewhere halfway between the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and contemporary artists like Kasey Chambers, lies the beautiful music of Seattle's Euclid. I just recently picked up last summer's Carthage EP and am entranced by the eerie mood the band is able to set through their blend of folk music and alt. country. - Dan Halligan

They take a few pages from the Tarnation songbook, and with a little band stability, have made a record that is dark yet delicate, powerful yet vulnerable. Lacing the opening track with scratchy vinyl record pops and hisses, they've created a mental nostalga, making themselves seem quite older than they really are. Throw in the dueling siren-song vocals of Katrina Whitney and Renee Raiteri, and you'll soon find yourself in a dusty old honky-tonk. All of the songs have a dirty, wind-blown streets of frontier towns feel to them; that Euclid's singers sound not unlike Patsy Cline doesn't hurt their mystique, either. - Joseph Kyle

A self-consciously lo-fi old-timey work (even down to fake crackles and hisses), Euclids debut six track EP sits somewhere between “Oh Brother…” (if it had been made by David Lynch instead of the Coens) and the Cowboy Junkies seminal “Trinity Session”. Neo-folk, Gothic American definitely seems to be the next big thing, and Euclid are definitely among its better purveyors. - Patrick Wilkins

On this six-song EP, Seattle's Euclid go about creating an interesting, if sometimes eerie mix that brings together the music of Beth Orton, a touch of David Crosby (mostly his first solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name) and a pinch of Appalachia. Like Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Sessions, Carthage is made mostly for late nights, for setting a mood rather than enhancing an already existing one. - Jedd Beaudoin

This neo-folk is perfectly played and its goth atmosphere brings them close to the area where bands like Faith & The Muse, Mila Mar or Deva Destruction are. But it's not goth alone as there is a sort of new-country style in it as well...a bit Cranberries-like even, but not easy pop songs nonetheless, more the kind of ethereal country pop as we know from Mojave 3 or Neko Case. - Didier Becu

This haunting five-song EP opens with the hiss and
crackles of a record being played, giving the charming
impression that you're listening to vinyl. And then
vocalists Katrina Whitney and Renee Raiteri begin a
chilling duet on "Little Dove", an accapella folk
song. This opening is very similar to the way Hem
opens their debut album, and the bands are very
similar in that they give a lovely modern
interpretation to old-fashioned traditional folk
songs.

But this Seattle quartet takes their interpretation to
a much darker place. These songs hang in shadows with
the sinister feel of a David Lynch film. They share a
gothic tone with bands like Black Heart Procession,
but share a western style with bands like Tarnation. A
moody, atmospheric debut EP from this talented local
outfit! - Janice Headley

Neo-folk and alt-country from this American four-piece that sounds like someone taken from the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, only a bit darker and stranger. If there wasn't such a dark and melancholic overall feel in the songs on this EP, I'd almost feel tempted to compare Euclid to the likes of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Patsy Cline (perhaps mostly because of Katrina's voice), but the backing band sounds more like the Cowboy Junkies or perhaps even Sixteen Horsepower. - Hans J. Eidisgard