Ider’s debut is a beautifully crafted pop record that has pristine melodic smarts to tie together a messy, sometimes lacerating slate of lyrics.
Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville’s songs are extremely literate when it comes to modern songwriting feints and conventions—moving between confident, punchy synths and gritty percussive interludes with dramatic flair.
There is great skill in assembling a song like Wu Baby, which on the surface is a monster synth ballad designed to be screamed rather than sung.
But its hooks swerve and shift gears in a manner that betrays the skill behind their execution. At one point, there is even a hint of Welsh indie legends Super Furry Animals’ downtempo pop classic Juxtaposed With U to its construction.
Certain moments lose their balance—Busy Being a Rockstar’s trombone squelch, the slightly rote verses of its immediate follow up Brown Sugar—but on the whole ‘Emotional Education’ is a sleek vehicle for Markwick and Somerville’s searching words.
The opener, Mirror, mainlines a destructive sort of self-image that radiates out from the top: switched on and honest, but anxious and agitated. It’s punctuated by the plea “heal me, heal me”, a motif that adds further depth to its stark verse: “Do I really laugh like that? Do I speak? Do I move? Do I look like that? I can't remember what I'm good at.”
Ider are fresh faces in a crowded market, but their brew of songwriting flair, simpatico harmonies and self awareness amounts to a fairly airtight millennial pop proposition.
Ider Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue February 04 2020 - BRISTOL Thekla
Wed February 05 2020 - LONDON Electric Brixton
Thu February 06 2020 - NOTTINGHAM Bodega Social Club
Fri February 07 2020 - GLASGOW King Tuts
Sat February 08 2020 - MANCHESTER Band on the Wall
Tue February 11 2020 - DUBLIN Sound House
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