EE - Ramadan

EE
Ramadan
Asian Man Records
Grade: A-

This is a reissue of EE's first full-length that was released in 2000 on Curry Records and was, up until now, shortly out-of-print. EE released a memorable disc last year on Asian Man called For 100 We Try Harder that imprinted their sound to a wave of listeners. This recording includes the work of five individuals: Tobin Mori (of Korea Girl) on guitar/vocals, Brian on bass, Esther on cello/keys/vocals and finally Muji and Dan sharing time on the drums. However, the line up today consists of Che Chou on bass, Peter Nguyen on drums and Sooyoung Park on guitar/keyboards. EE prosper on light and smooth instrumentals with soft vocals that look to accent the music but not steal the show. As such, EE would probably feel fine with one of the slew of instrumental artists on Temporary Residence Ltd. "Asian Gangsta Kidz" is an exceptional song with the right mix of low key vocals by Tobin and sweetly added back up by Esther. What makes the song great is that while the allegiance to instrumentalism is there, it has a strong rock element to push it over the top. "Ramadan" is piano-driven that wouldn't be out of place on a light FM station if not for slight noise in the background, while "Battery Davis" is punctuated by Esther's cello. "Retrace" starts out with layers of guitars and Tobin's vocals as it merges with some electronics. "Square Back" kicks off like an indie rock majesty that makes this record at least the price of admission. "One Less Year" is considerably mellower with echoing guitars and Tobin's vocals approaching the world of brooding rock. "Brace" closes out the deal with a poppy and heavy downstroke guitars - this is a great song. After hearing the ten tracks on EE's debut Ramadan, I had to go back to their latest record and taken a renewed listen. While strong, Ramadan smokes it and I'm very surprised we didn't hear more from this on its initial release.