
Benevolence, the debut of Skemer thrives in ambiguity and obscurity. Kim Peers has a seductive and angelic voice. Her sm mistress-like vocals are surrounded in dark beats and experimental electronic sound structures. Don’ t expect heavy guitars walls from Mathieu Vandekerckhove. On the track Call Me, we could hear so far, some guitar playing referring to the New wave days of the eighties. Most of the tracks are a Venn diagram with the dreamy minimalism of the Cranes, the electro pop of two other Belgian duos, Vive La Fête and Fär, mixed with the punk rock sound of Siouxsie And The Banshees.
Some records need some time to digest, with some you need stomach tablets. With Skemer you don't know what’s going on and what you are holding. The music has an inconsistent result but the atmosphere could fit very well on a dark wave party between the vaults of a medieval dungeon. On the other hand, after some attentive (sometimes forced) listening sessions of this album, Skemer doesn’t sound that bad at all. The duo shows stubbornness in their stereotypes and tries to create an own formative twist.
The couple recorded this album a few months after meeting, their urge for this should have been less overindulgence. Benevolence is to our opinion an interesting recording but with ups (Sunseeker, Call Me) and downs (Best, RHOEAS). Time will show what their future will bring.
Patsker