Iiris
The Magic Gift Box

Even if you're not inclined, by taking a quick glance at the genres here on the side, to read the "review" I am writing - and I can understand you...

...just limit yourself to opening another window, and use it to type "Iiris - Unicorn (live)". The search result should lead to a video - in which this beautiful girl dressed in red, raven-haired, sits at the piano and starts a melody. A melody that is not an exaggeration to call CELESTIAL.

Celestial on par with her Voice. Beautiful. But not exactly of that BEAUTY that you often hear. For five minutes, I can say I listened to an angel with the voice of a child.

Iiris Vesik was born in 1991, the same age as her young republic: Estonia. She has been singing since she started pronouncing words, and sat at the piano not long after. At seven years old, she took to the stage for the first time; at twelve, she placed third in a national festival. She grew up fast, perhaps without even the exact awareness of possessing an immense natural Talent, something her teachers had rarely encountered. I first read about her and her story a couple of years ago, and an article in English presented these exact words to me: "for the precocity she reminds one of Bjork; for the studies undertaken, the almost unique vocal timbre and her very image, one cannot help but think of Kate Bush"...

...and there I was, never having listened to her, at least puzzled (and that's an understatement...). But yes, I said to myself, here we go again: the usual (absurd) comparisons thrown out there, for an artist who in the end will have nothing to do with either one, at best she will be decent (maybe) and that's it, and the writer will have made yet another blunder taken in such cases... typical mirage of Nordic fascination, how many I've read... from Iceland to Finland, oh... we can imagine.

The time to listen to a couple of live recordings (and I emphasize: LIVE) for piano and voice, nothing else: but damn... Lao Tze proven wrong. May the gods strike me if what I heard wasn't the closest timbre to Kate Bush that I've ever heard in so many years... Young Kate Bush, the one who debuted at 19, the one you could never confuse. There's no one else in the world who has ever managed to replicate that unique Sound, at best you could get somewhat close to it (at a respectful distance). Or strive to imitate it. But no, not even. Well, this girl came closer, like never before. It wasn't simply a matter of range, it was exactly the way of singing the words, touching them, giving them substance. A heart-stirring dive.

Iiris debuted on a full-length last year. And at first, I wondered how that SAME girl could have produced banal, insipid and disconcerting dance tracks like "Weirdo" and "Melyse," which do not even remotely highlight her vocal characteristics. In reality, there is an explanation (and a natural one): entrusted to an experienced local producer and debuting with a major label, the girl had to promote the album with something catchy, also to make up for her country's peripheral position on the European Pop scene - Kerli aside, but anyway... despite she claims to listen to the blonde compatriot, in terms of pure SINGING skills the difference between the two is abyssal (!)...

...and so, at least in these beginnings, we have to settle for a lot of trivial stuff and a few (sigh!) things really worthy of her Talent. Too much electronics, not many original solutions and songs more than once trapped in too predictable structures, which live performances - often done solo - she manages to avoid with mastery. The regret grows thinking that several pieces (considering also her very young age) already show embryonic compositional talents ready to mature, aside from the synthetic patina: see "Astronaut", "Glimmering", the aforementioned "Unicorn", "Circle", "Mirage" - truly splendid.

One could just about reach a passing grade by turning a blind eye, but from this Baltic nightingale (often adorned like a Dark-Wave queen) much more is expected - the possible path is that of a more rarefied and atmospheric Synth-Pop, because the pieces render much better the less they are overloaded with electronics. And the Voice (that's where we started from) is indeed what it is.

But anyway, let's let her grow some more...