EVRIPIDIS AND HIS TRAGEDIES AT PRIMAVERA SOUND

On the streets of Barcelona there are plenty of tour buses, but only one bus is worth catching this week. New this year to the Primavera Sound festival is Primavera al Carrer, (Primavera in the street), up and coming bands are traversing the city playing a series of mini shows. One of the best bands Zoot has discovered at this festival were aboard this bus in Barceloneta, the beachfront area of the city.

Text By Charlotte Pattullo

Evripidis And His Tragedies are a group designed for jiving on street corners. Greek-born, Barcelona based Evripidis Sabatis leads his tragedies, an ever changing cast of his multi instrumental friends from Barcelona’s vibrant music scene, in a merry dance through 60s doo-wop, indie tweeness and sumptuous Walker Brothers style  arrangements. Their songs are piano driven, pulsating at times, haunting at others, with a steady Zombies like bass and accents of melodic saxophone and violin.

Singing in English, with dashes of Greek and Spanish, Sabatis writes lyrics with Belle and Sebastian wit and pithism. Their forthcoming album, A Healthy Dose of Pain features a song called Just a Kleenex, a lament for a lost love with poor sartorial taste. To a barber shop style accompaniment Sabatis sings ‘If I was your handkerchief, I’d be with you day and night, I’d be made of a fine cloth with a pattern….you’d keep me in your chest pocket, close to your heart.’ However this lover is no well-dressed dandy, and doesn’’t use such accoutrements, preferring a disposable Kleenex, an attitude which extends to romantic affairs. Yelps of ‘all I ever was for you was a Kleenex’ are both heartfelt and hilarious.

The band will be playing again on Saturday at Minimusica, a part of the festival designed for children to see live music.

You can find out more about this perfect pop group on their website or facebook.

You can download their first E.P for free at www.evripidisandhistragedies.bandcamp.com