FRAU EVA is a new band from DC you can be genuinely excited about. Ben, Vanessa and David play deceptively simple songs that one wants to listen to on whisper volume, that's how intimate they feel. They met on Craigslist a year and a half or so a go and have just come out with with a lovely EP Rip Out The Threads, which, appropriately for a record of (almost) lullabies, they recorded in a bedroom in Mt.Pleasant during those not-yet-insanely-hot days of May in DC. They will play it for you this Saturday at RNR Hotel, and we are here to preview it and raise your expectations:
All three of us write songs, and then work extensively on arranging and changing parts. It turned out, quite accidentally, that each song on the EP was written by a different person (at least lyrically).
Peregrine Veil
Peregrine means roving or wandering. The song is about something deep inside thats been kept there buried, and then an event releases it.. the veil that's kept it there is cast out, free to wander.... Also I wrote this song while thinking about the book Steppenwolf (this is the second Hermann Hesse reference now, are you counting?), though it is not directly about it. I was probably thinking more about the feeling that the book evoked for me.
-Vanessa
Morrissey Smiling
This song’s lyrics deserve a little clarification because people assume it’s about Morrissey and it’s not really. It only references him because he’s the epitome of a sad-sack; if he changed to writing cheerful songs, he would lose his charm. Its kind of like if you actually manage to fix the problems in your life, it loses its dramatic appeal. It’s a lose-lose situation.
-David
Don't Wait For Me
This is a story about my grandfather who suffered from Alzheimer's. He died when I was young, so I have these sort of distorted memories of him in the last few years of his life. He lived in this scary tortured state, but there were all these people around him who were able to treat him so well because they remembered him before he was sick. I guess it can be difficult to let go of people you love, even if they are no longer the person you fell in love with.
-Ben
photos by Eliot Brasseaux
WANT MORE:
Check out their Myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/frauevamusic and make sure you show up to RNR Hotel early this Saturday to catch them open for Pree
BONUS:
ReadySetDC interviews them here
God loves a cheerful giver.
They are so adorable, you just want to hug them and squeeze them. I'm glad I was able to hook them together.
Frau Eva makes intelligent, mature, sensitive and cleverly creative music. Ive been to see them a few times and theyve been consistently excellent.