Wench demo cassette

Wench is a music and art project based in San Francisco, consisting of mucisian Frances Byrne and visualist/clothing designer Katreece Montgomery recently signed to Deux ex Musica. I recently got a hold of their self-titled demo tape after the recommendation of a friend. The cassette is comprised of eight songs having an overall neo-industrial feel combined with Middle East/ethnic sounds (think Collide meets Graeme Revell's score for "The Crow"). As far as demo tapes go, this is one of the best I've heard, both artistically and technically. The percussion alone is quite an experience. There is very deep percussive layering that mixes industrial/techno and tribal beat textures with tons of synths and treated vocals. My particular favorite is "Ophelia" (How many bands have this as a song name? Off hand I can think of The Shroud and Numb...). This one relies more heavily on the industrial side with more of the electronic sounds featured as opposed to the Arabian instrument samples, setting the background for very stylized female vocals. Overall, this tape makes you anticipate Wench's full-length debut, which will hopefully happen soon. So, if you happen to see this one for sale, (you probably won't unless you live in the San Francisco Bay Area), the Wench demo cassette makes a pretty worthwhile investment of your $6.