Demitasse is guitarist Joe Reyes and singer Erik Sanden of the San Antonio-based band Buttercup. The two came together for this latest project after the deaths of their fathers. The resulting album, Perfect Life, is elegiac and elegant. What's here on this record is haunting, but the material retains a certain buoyancy that makes it easy to embrace even if it seems serious in intention.
"Hope in the Dark", for instance, is sung in hushed tones, with the guitar here a gentle accompaniment. The effect is like if the late Elliott Smith chose to cover a Scott Walker number. Similarly, "Little Blonde Boy (For Kurt Cobain)" is spry and as light as air, despite the subject matter. Reyes and Sanden exercise a deft touch all throughout this album, with none of Perfect Life feeling too heavy, even if the lyrics sometimes touch on serious matters.
If "Forgive" bears a very faint hint of Tindersticks about it, the more infectious "I Found You" is even better. This number, recalling Mark Eitzel as it does, suggests that Joe Reyes and Erik Sanden are capable of crafting some of the most considered and precise indie-pop in 2020. Perfect Life doesn't have a huge amount of variety about it, but it is a thoroughly listenable record, and one which will touch the heart of an attentive listener.
Perfect Life is out today via the link below.
More details on Demitasse via the band's official website.
[Photo: Demitasse]