Search - Eleni Mandell :: Snakebite

Never heard her music until...

Scott | Florida | 06/08/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...I read some very positive reviews for not only Snakebite, but her previous CDs. I subsequently picked it up at the local large-chain music store. Desperate to listen to something new, offbeat and non-radio friendly, I kept an open mind while listening to it. What an album! An almost omnipresent upright bass in the background accompanies Eleni's voice throughout: smoky and smooth in one song, mercurial the next. All songs are great. 'Don't Lose My Trail' and 'Silverlake Babies' among others sound positively dreamy, while 'Close The Door' is this close to outright goofiness. And she really lets loose on the title track. Eleni's fans will of course snap it up, and if there's any justice, all that's left is the signing up with a major label."

Close the door, forget the others...

C. Yohn | the village [USA] | 06/22/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"with each release, singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell proves more worthy of recognition...Wishbone, her debut, made an impact with its standout exotic tracks, and Thrills was more focused and cool... Snakebite evolves to surpass both... there doesnt seem to be a weak track on the album - or if there is, it flows so well, you dont notice... taking the very best of the tender, the menacing, the exotic, and the dramatic from her first two releases she has created her most cohesive and consistent record to date... and she has managed improve her craft without sounding contrived, canned or studio-polished... some songs sound as if theyve been lost for 70 years and have only now been rediscovered and released...It may be, as most reviewers suggest, that Eleni embodies a spiritual/musical offspring of the likes of PJ Harvey and Tom Waits... thats not an invalid comparison (and certainly a duet i wouldnt mind witnessing!)... but hers is a talent that exists on its own, regardless of her influences, which incidentally also include classic showtunes and the band X...if youre just now discovering Eleni Mandell, Snakebite may be the best introduction to her wonderful range of jazz-folk-cabaret rock and film-noir atmosphere...afterwards, you should also pick up Wishbone and Thrills... artists like her can always use the support, and in this case she certainly deserves it...be seeing you..."

Snakebitten, No Longer Shy

superball9 | Arlington, VA, USA | 11/29/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of the many labels critics have attempted to place on Eleni Mandell, the one that fits the most is "original." Her music is evocative of film noir; you feel as if there's a trenchcoated man lurking behind the darkness of every pluck of the upright bass. The musical narrative she follows on Snakebite's journey is that of lost love. Her imagistic songwriting detailing the man who left you, the woman he left you for, the void the loss has caused, and the many ways you'll exact your revenge. Mandell's voice is also the perfect instrument to carry all four of these plot twists at the same time as her sultry alto is equally mournful and sensual, defiant yet fragile. Mandell returns with the primary cast from her previous release, Thrill, as Brian Kehew (of the Moog Cookbook) handles production and sound, while Melora Creager of Rasputina cameos her cello. Disc opener "Dreamboat" is as slow and languorous as one would expect based on the title, but listeners beware, "there's trouble below" as the disc segues into the frenetic claustrophobic "Pirate Song" with the narrator, one of the "Dreamboat" lovers, sounding as if she's singing from her watery grave. A couple tracks later we get one of the brightest songs, sonically at least, that Mandell has written with "I Believe In Spring" with the lap steel and tambourine providing the correct amount of light contrasting with the dark and dreary lyrics to maintain the proper chiaroscuro. The title track with its images of absence and suffocation is as frenetic as "Pirate Song" with tambourine shakes to simulate a snake's rattle before flowing into the lazy and lilting "Christine," perhaps sung for "Dreamboat"'s deceased woman. "Digging A Hole" sounds like a modern sea shanty while "Silverlake Babies," with its seemingly positive tone, brings some ambiguity to the disc's story with the reference to postmodernist apocalyptic author "Lullaby Phillip K. Dick." Eleni Mandell creates music that is truly unique as her lyrics paint a dark and dreary story throughout the course of the album while her vocal wraps perfectly around each syllable executing each murder in the most calculated fashion."