The origins of the Blakes are rooted somewhere in the backwoods of central Maine, where in the latter half of the nineties Garnet Keim and his younger brother Snow acted upon a shared ambition to deviate from their seemingly inevitable fates as lifelong paper mill employees (or something of that nature), and try their hands at music. In 2009, the band decided on a split from Light in the Attic, preferring to release further material on their own. Garnet and Snow put out a full-length record consisting of more introspective songs as BEADS earlier in the year. The Blakes, meanwhile, have been recording for the new album on-and-off since late 2007, and are preparing to work harder than ever to promote it.

Teaming up with producer Shane Stoneback on the Foreign Spells EP, The Young Evils discovered an evolved and potent new sound with this collection of songs. The alluring boy-girl harmonies remain but have taken a darker turn down pop's corridor, combining ‘60s doo-wop melodies with a bombastic rhythm section and noisy guitars. Gone are the cheery acoustic strummings of Foreign Spells' predecessor, 2010's acclaimed debut Enchanted Chapel. Songwriter Nelson and the band instead opted to focus on creating a sinister pop framework to underscore the talents of Nelson's better half, starlet Mackenzie Mercer.

If the infectious pop The Young Evils conjure has strayed from its sunnier former-self, so too have their lyrics, revealing the band’s propensity for the dreary and dark. “Dead Animals is what we’ll become” Mercer and Nelson proclaim in the four-track EP’s first single “Dead Animals.” The song perfectly exemplifies the band’s duality, charming but realistic and gloomy all at once. Foreign Spells is a document of The Young Evils’ brash honesty and virulent rhythms and harmonies.

Tickets