The New Eves – ‘The New Eve Is Rising’ album review: A spellbinding mix of punk and folk
Punk music has accomplished a great deal since its inception in the 1970s, including competing with politicians, monarchists, and genocidal maniacs. However, it’s time for the genre to advance even further, as The New Eves make an effort to rewrite the Bible.
Brighton’s four-piece, The New Eves, have released their debut album, The New Eve Is Rising. The album is a punk-infused, chaotic mix of experimental folk, rock music, and spoken-word poetry. It sounds messy, but the album, which was written during a residency at The Cornish Bank and recorded at Rockfield Studios and Bristol’s Cotham Parish Church, comes together incredibly well.
The album begins with the song ‘The New Eve’, and my advice would be that anyone who dislikes that track should stop listening. It’s an excellent representation of what you can expect throughout the rest of the album, as it blends chaotic genres of music along with poetry to create what I can only assume is the band’s manifesto.
The song takes the idea of Eve, you know, from the olden days, and rewrites her to be a woman of rebellion, carnage, self-acceptance and coolness. This is the kind of Eve you’d want to hang out with, not the kind to toss and turn over an apple, but one who would eat the fruit without apology before spitting out the seeds to grow more. “The new Eve is of earth, granite, ochre, magma, dirt,” the band proclaim, “All the bones in her body are holy, all the stones in her pockets are homely.”
Despite the creativity of the band shining through on this opening number, there was still hesitation in me going into the record. The spoken word over punk thing has been exhausted in the modern age, to the point that hearing a poem over a running bassline and up-tempo rhythm didn’t excite me, but rather made my spine seize, despite the unique nature of the words. I’m happy to report, though, that this album doesn’t fall within the realm of predictable punk that seems to be becoming its own genre in the 21st century. The New Eves are something different. Something equal parts wicked and endearing.
This record has more twists than the Bible stories it attempts to rewrite. The creation of another universe lies somewhere in its layers, which are made up of messy hits of strings, screamed lyrics of rebellion, carnage, beauty and war cries, off-kilter rhythm and all-around haphazardness. It’s not a record for everyone, I don’t think the band would mind me saying that, but if you’re a listener who wants something unlike anything you’ve heard before, the kind of album you put on and listen to consistently without a break, that can invoke contrasting feelings (in this case those of freedom and fear) then you’re going to love this.
The New Eves manage to be experimental enough to sound new but not so much that what they create is totally inaccessible. It’s a sweet middle ground, the kind of thing you can get lost in individually but also put on a party (albeit a party with your more interesting friends). The contrast throughout the record is truly spellbinding.
‘Circles’ is a song that consists largely of spoken-word sections, band members speaking over one another, making it hard to pick out individual lines, but also resulting in a tornado of poetry that Dorothy herself would dive headfirst into. It then falls into vocal silence and hectic instrumentation, the illusion of directionlessness, but playing a piece which has clearly been worked on throughout and painstakingly perfected over time.
The song immediately afterwards is ‘Mary’, the first half of which consists of much more conventional folk music. The vocals are stunning, the instrumentation is sweet, and the two songs, despite being polar opposites, work in perfect conjunction with one another. This pocket is what you can expect throughout the record; it is unconventional, yet the conventional music inspired by it is there to be picked out.
The record is outstanding—a real frustrated release, not just in lyricism but in all aspects. Every instrument plays a crucial part, and every second feels accounted for. It’s not the kind of album which will be music to the ears of everyone, but the ones who get it will get it.
Defining track: ‘The New Eve’ – Yes, it made me trepidatious at first, but now, after hearing the whole album, I recognise it’s the perfect intro and a song that really does define the rest of the record.
For fans of: Those who watched The Wicker Man and Googled if the island was real afterwards.
A concluding comment from Lilith: “Now this is the kind of Eve I could have gotten along with.”
Release date: August 1st, 2025 | Producer: Joe Jones, Jack Ogborne | Label: Transgressive Records
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.