Five years following their last release, Greek band Tango With Lions are coming out with their long-anticipated third album The Light. In support of this new work, they've given us the first listen to their second single, "What You've Become". Led by singer-songwriter Katerina (or Kat) Papachristou, the band formed out of a summertime beach-house jam in the late 2000's. Eventually solidifying their lineup, they released two albums, their breakout Verba Time in 2010 and A Long Walk in 2013. Tango With Lions has honed an effortlessly touching sound that blends much of what we've heard in the last 20 years. This is made especially unique by the emotional undercurrent of Kat's personal musings.
"What You've Become" cruises steadily in a wash of well-blended acoustic and electric elements. Meanwhile Kat's hearty vocals shine at the forefront. There's actually a bit of a 60's vibe induced by a slow burning guitar riff, tambourine, and a Beatles-esque, sitar-sounding guitar in the second half. Kat's succinct and evocative imagery also hints at the laconic poetry of Emily Haines. She situates the big stuff – loneliness, love, change – into digestible scenarios that we can easily places ourselves in and empathize with. This latest interim between albums was their longest yet. But as a result, Kat was able to draw from a diverse range of experiences and transformations:
"The album depicts my wobble between light and darkness for an extended period of time. Dealing with grief and suffering from blackouts, my only thought was to cling to music in order to sort things out and reach the light again. I consider this album as a vivid impression of all the ups and downs I went through while creating it: exaggerated hope, sarcasm, nihilism, nostalgia, love, broken relationships, death and life, all blended together with the sole vision to feel whole again." – Katerina Papachristou
The Light is out on January 19th via Inner Ear Records.
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