Release Date: Apr 10, 2012
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Rock
Record label: Kanine Records
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy House of Baasa from Amazon
It's tempting to compare Zambri to Tegan and Sara. Both bands feature siblings singing about love, loss, and the madness found in between. Cristi Jo and Jessica Zambri's vocal performance on "ICBYS" even echoes the Quin sisters' indignant rasp. But the comparisons end there. Zambri have come to ….
As Teutonic etherea goes, many have searched for the elusive midpoint between the mystical menace of Siouxsie and the recondite romance of Cocteau Twins. New York’s Zambri do quite well in this endeavor, their enigmatically titled House of Baasa coming on like something from the deepest vaults of 4AD. Gorgeous tracks are as eerie as they are sonically cosseting, all weirdly effected electronics and gossamer vocals (“Hundred Hearts,” “From An Angle”).
Zambri burst onto the scene in 2009 with "Easier," one of that year's most ear-catching songs. Pairing electro-pop thrills the likes of which hadn't been heard since the Tom Tom Club or Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with a dark industrial-tinged pulse, Jessica and Cristi Jo Zambri and crew had crafted a sound that was as distinctive as it was appealing. Then they seemingly disappeared, only to resurface two years later with the Glossolalia EP, which polarized the sisters' twin obsessions with pop confectionery and moody experiments.
House of Baasa is the full-length debut from Jessica and Cristi Jo Zambri, two Brooklyn-based sisters who have been making bedroom pop since before that was even a thing. The duo reportedly shared a room growing up, and House of Baasa is an attempt to capture and tap into both the music they made together and the worlds crafted through playtime. Judging from what lies within House of Baasa, Halloween must have been a memorable holiday in the Zambri household.
Zambri is the New York-based duo of Cristi Jo and Jessica Zambri, and together these sisters mix pop, avant-garde and electronic music to create abstract pop sounds. On House Of Baasa, Zambri’s debut LP, opener “All You Maybes” positions the softness of their voices against thundering drums, metal clanks and synths, setting up the tormented-dream, Snow-White-in-the-haunted-woods quality of the album. The Zambris play with range on House Of Baasa, exploring the highs and lows of their vocals on “ICBYS” and of love on “Hundred Hearts.
is available now