Photo by Eftychia Vlachou

Dances With Lions

GREECE | INDIE-FOLK/SLOWCORE

Cats sure can be moody little things and this band named after the big kitties of the animal kingdom live up to their name when it comes to the amount of emotion and thought entrenched within their art. Like the kings of the jungle, Tango With Lions does not back down from any challenge, even when it comes to a larger than large indie music scene. 2007 saw the formation of the band in Athens as a sort of musical collective of musicians before settling on a steady lineup years later. Kat Papachristou is the lead singer of this eclectic Greek band that is encompassed in all of the feels and more.

Their debut LP Verba Time occurred in 2010, a very reflective, slow-moving and calculated take to music.  The songs that attracted me to them the most from this release were Right From the Start and Angel’s Arms, so if you wanted to begin from TWL’s very beginning, I would start there, even if everyone is telling you to listen to In a Bar from the get-go. I take a different approach to their music, however. Right From the Start is starkly different from the rest of the songs since it is upbeat, strummy, and even has harmonica in it, bringing about a sort of blues tone. It has somewhat of a more carefreeness to it that I really dig. Angel’s Arms has an orchestral backdrop that drives a nail straight to your heart at first, but then lightens with a completely different mood altogether for a short time at the tail end of the track. It is an absolutely gorgeous window into an otherwise dreary-sounding track. And really, for the most part, don’t expect a driving force via a beat, but rather a force of emotion from this album and the other ones in their catalogue, because that is their signature niche.

Three years later, they were back at it with what I would consider their best album – A Long Walk – a ten track monument to their impeccable musical craftsmanship. Any album that has a quality start will keep me listening through to the end and luckily enough for them, their first song Slippery Roads is phenomenal. It’s got rock attitude despite Kat’s non-aggressive vocals, bringing about a more distinctive approach to their sound. The guitars are just rocky enough to drive it down it’s slippery road with a consistent beat that paints a literal picture of the title. It’s not often that music paints such a vivid picture, but this one does. The usage of faster moving songs really solidifies my love for this album, along with some of the simple, little diddly guitar parts and finger picking that create a glorious atmosphere and environment for Kat to construct within. It’s almost like it feels more natural for her voice to be layed atop songs like Kite and News. Yet, when you slow back down a little bit with Where Heroes Die and Over the Neon Lights, you never really lose any of the novel aspects of Tango.

If you’re wondering about the lyrical subject matter, then I hope this would give you a bit of an idea of what Kat sings and writes about…

Lyrics from Angel’s Arms are ethereal…

“I cleaned my conscience but now it starts
I got so wicked
I don’t see how, with us…
Now I think I’m touching clouds
and I feel I play with feathers
but I fear I play with you, instead,
in my hands.”

and lyrics from News are so hard-hitting with truth…

“By the fireplace with vodka and wine
covered in cigarette smoke
Nothing really happens
Our daily painkillers
Our ideal dreamers
Stones we kill each other with
The flowers never really grew”

There’s something about Kat P. that reminds me of another Cat … This one being CAT POWER. Cat Power has a stripped down sound, dramatic moodyness, slower tempo for the most part, and piano and orchestral sections, drawing a close similarity in regards to some of the dynamics that this Kat brings to the table.

 

 

Tango’s latest release The Light just dropped this last January after a five years absence and took nearly two years to complete. The subjects of grief, passion, heartbreak, and lost optimism are contained within the 9 songs and a more eerie aura is sensed right off the bat. Kat’s vocals are layered atop each other, providing the listener with what could only be described as a sort of dual personality, despite the song’s title Back to One. Proof of Desire is my favorite track on the album due to the chorus and awesome built-up bridge which offsets the otherwise bleak musicality of the song, providing a dynamic that not every musician or band can pull off. It’s the fragments of songs like this that are the reason I featured Tango With Lions. Just when you think you may get bored with slow moving songs or a somewhat bleak tone to their music, they throw in little Easter eggs like a trombone in Last Thrill, or a banjo in Restless Man, creating a new sound for themselves, bordering on folk or even blues at times.

Now, while they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I do think that Tango With Lions offers many indie fans something they can get behind with not only their ears, but also their emotions.

 

Band Members
Kat Papachristou- voice, piano, guitars, harp, bass
Theodore Zefkilis- bass
Nikos Vergetis- drums, percussion, vocals
Dennis Morfis- electric guitar
Jim Staridas- trombone
Maria Sachpasidi- keyboards, vocals

 

For more Tango With Lions
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Listen to…
Slippery Roads
Kite

If You Like…
Emilie Haines
Cat Power