Barbarella & The Angels. They sound like a glamourous band. They even have a singer that goes by the equally glamourous name of Diana Anastasia but, dear yet cynical readers, will their EP “The Virgin” be a triumph of style over substance?
Of course there is nothing wrong with having a bit of style or, indeed, a surfeit of style when you find yourself in the big bad world of pop music and that’s the first thing that strikes you about Barbarella & The Angels. There is not only style but also mood and attitude. Reverb powered mood and attitude but it is there nonetheless and if I had to describe their song “Sad”, for example, then I would say that the song sashays. Fans of Marianne Dissard will know what I mean when I say that the song finds the invisible dust bowls of the city.
“Queen” is similarly introspective in lyrical terms yet, in stylistic terms, struts the catwalk in search of freedom. Again, the superficial may assume pretension when the truth owes more to anguish than the aforementioned attitude. “Heartache”, with its shadows lit not by words but by guitar, steps up the theatricality while Ms. Anastasia gloriously overdoses on smoky sensuality.
Barbarella & The Angels might seem like the kind of band likely to become the darlings of the camera yet there is more here than meets the eye. Fashion comes and fashion goes but Barbarella & The Angels are transcendental.