The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa – Slowthinking

• The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa . Slowthinking
• 2003 . Czech republic
• dream pop.trip-hop.ambient.alternative
• buy!

I was goin’ to write something nice bout EOST, but this amazing review/overview by Lawrence Upton ,which crossed my way while I was looking for them on amazon, says it all.

So here we go:

By the time of Slowthinking the band had become streamlined to a nucleus of Jan Puchow and singer Katerina Winterová, who first appeared on record with the group on 1999′s In Dust 3. As an actress she is also a full time member of Prague’s National Theatre ensemble. The pair are augmented on Slowthinking by a number of musicians who provide woodwinds, brass, cello, double bass and “noises”, bringing together real instruments and a subtle array of electronics. Muchow has described it as “a quiet record, which has to be played loudly”.

The shoe-gazing elements have been superceded by a glitchier psychedelic soundscape and Katerina’s fragile child-like vocals (sung in English) – think Matmos enjoying an unhealthy picnic with Stina Nordenstam, or Múm caught in the act of burning FourTet’s toys; perhaps there are elements of Goldfrapp, Lamb or Bjork on certain tracks, no bad thing, though the influences are as likely to be from the Ecstasy Of St Theresa as the other way around.

The singles from the album are Local Distortion and I’m (Not Really) Optimistic, while www.eost.Pluto (which has the only Czech language to be heard on the record) began life on the Planet Sound compilation for Zivel magazine and features Sifon on “Arizona tenor”. The songs are interspersed with short interludes known as Miss Underloops.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

PS: You can find their latest release here.