Sometimes on a rare occasions a song can come from nowhere and cut through the detritus of modern living, stopping you in your tracks and making you pause for breath and let out a sigh for a few precious moments in a day. Such was the case when I first heard the exquisite acoustic balladry of ‘You Can Go Now’ by three piece Schmieds Puls. Although balladry doesn’t quite do this sparing slice of intense emotiveness justice, this is the sound of capturing that moment when a relationship has gone bad and you just want the pain to end, now.
Vienna based songwriter Mira Lu Kovacs possess a brave piercing voice that’s brittle quiver cuts through each bar with the clarity of cut glass. Her stunning vocal performance bringing to mind the work of Cat Power and Sharon Van Etten as she takes control of a hopeless situation for the sake of closure. While the tumbling strums and melancholic flourishes that are garnished by drums and backing chants in their final portion do bring to mind the work of Nick Drake: ultimately this song orbits in its own sphere. Heartbreak has never sounded so utterly spellbinding.
Schmieds Puls is Mira Lu Kovacs (guitar, vocals), Christain Grobauer (drums), and Walter Singer (contrabass). When Mira Lu Kovacs began writing songs on a trip from the American east- to west coast in 2011, she started out as a solo act. In 2012, she met Christian and Walter and invited them to play with her at a festival show. That turned out so well (“it was love!”) that Schmieds Puls transformed into a band. The debut album Play Dead was released in autumn 2013 on Jazzwerskatt Records. The second album I care a little less about everything now will be out October 16th on Seayou Records.
