I just ran across a band by the name of Eatliz while cruising around on web space. Found them on Aniboom of all places. (How did we ever find anything before the Internet?)

[Caveat: Music is a highly subjective thing and words can’t describe the total experience. I’m not a critic and my tastes are highly varied; most might even say they are questionable. This is my first attempt at a review — I’ll get better. I hope.]

Eatliz is an indie from Israel (most of the entries on their Facebook wall are in Hebrew) though all the songs I’ve heard so far have been in English. They’ve been around for 7 years and have been the subject of an MTV “art break.” I haven’t bothered with MTV in 20 years, so it’s no surprise I didn’t see it.

Their debut album, Violently Delicate, was released on Anova Records in 2007 in Israel, and 2008 in Germany/Austria/Switzerland.

Lead vocalist Lee Triffon sounds a little reminiscent of Alanis Morissette on Jagged Little Pill, though not as angry. A couple of parts also remind me a bit of Kate Bush, but the album is certainly not a copy of either artist. (I can’t talk about any of the multitude of artists similar to Eatliz, that I haven’t heard.)

The music has bits and pieces that could fit into a wide variety of musical genres, with a whole that is eclectic. The vocals are at times soft as on “Be Invisible” or “Attractive.” Sometimes driving like “Army of Me” or the title track. The instrumental passages don’t always seem to be the same style as the vocal, but the mix works. There is a note (so to speak) of middle eastern arrangements, but that is mixed with some metal riffs and some “pure” pop. Maybe a little jazz and, wait, isn’t that a little goth-sounding? And sometimes all in the same song.

My introduction to Eatliz was the video for Hey which was released to promote Violently Delicate. It is a fantasy journey of a young girl and her pet, a huge toad. (Okay, maybe the toad is an alien; it has tattoos.) The animation has a couple of short scenes that may be a little disturbing for delicate sensibilities, but on the whole was well done and interesting. The song and video could be interpreted as an allegory of a girl’s passage through adolescence.

All told, Eatliz is a pop band. Their lyrics are not long or particularly deep (but maybe they are — that’s the trouble with subjective opinions) but the music is definitely worth a listen. At least if your tastes are eclectic.

Band’s home page: www.eatliz.com.
Band’s YouTube page: www.youtube.com/user/eatlizband.

Addenda (later that same day)

The name of the blog entry was fixed, I had used the EP title. Also, I forgot to mention that the band is offering a free download of Violently Delicate from their website. They are also giving away tracks from their new EP Delicately Violent (to be released toward the end of November) to anyone who joins their mailing list, http://www.anovamusic.com/eatliz/mailform.htm. Thanks to Guy Ben Shitrit of Eatliz for noticing this.