Esben and the Witch

Since forming in Brighton in 2008, Esben and the Witch have forged a sound that springs forth from minds soaked in influences far and beyond any standard set of musical touchstones. Nature and literature, art and science, history and the unknown – the trio eschews the everyday for inspiration drawn from sources weird and wonderful, as well as the occasional Scott Walker and PJ Harvey record.

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Dispelling any burden of 'the difficult second album', Esben and the Witch have comprehensively transcended any such slump or curse with Wash the Sins Not Only the Face: a majestic, haunting and triumphant work that is not ‘difficult’ in the slightest. Their second full-length brings to fruition concepts that glimmered on their first, 2011’s acclaimed Violet Cries, but there are no laurels being rested upon here. 

To make their second album, Esben and the Witch questioned, challenged and rewired their past to find the way to their future. The result is an album that finds new shades within the Esben palette, and when placed alongside Violet Cries, feels like a fuzzy image that’s pulled successfully into focus. It makes you wonder where this road will take them next. More to the point, it makes you want to savour where Esben and the Witch are at now, because Wash the Sins Not Only the Face is a sublime experience, an album whose mysteries and riddles will entrance.