Eymarel - A Needle in a Haystack
Scotty Greene@The 101 Report.com
April 06, 2006
Eymarel - A Needle in a Haystack

With nothing to do on a Tuesday night, and having not heard live music for almost a month (see the Langerado reviews on our home page - those were my last shows!), I did what every other music loving creature would do - go over to our friends at Jambase.com and see who's performing locally. What I found and what was to follow just proves what I've always said - you don't have to be big to be great. And if you don't give something a chance, and don't have an open mind, you'll be stuck in the mud, with tunnellvision, forever, and that's no way to approach music.

Eymarel is Mary Francis (vocals. organ, synthesiszer, bass) and Lee Allen (drums, samples, keys). That's right, just two musicians, with a whole lot of sound. They both have extensive musical backgrounds, with Mary learning under the classical training of Frances Eggleston Scott Carter and then under Dr. Bair Shagdaro while attending college in North Carolina. Lee got into the drums while I was still learning to walk, at the age of 5, as his dad directed a marching band. He continued his musical education at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and then under Dr. Rob Falvo, also in North Carolina. But all the education in the world doesn't mean you can make beautiful music, does it? Eymarel put that hypothetical to rest with the first chords of their show.

Smooth, funky, soulful.... did I say smooth? They find a groove and stick with it, build on it, I should say. A little James Brown thrown in with a little Billie Holiday, as Mary's voice moves from hypnotic to overwhelmingly powerful at any given moment. They can do hard core Zeppelin and still make the music soulful, blusey, adding grooves that never existed in previous renditions. They play as one, but at any given time, if you close your eyes, you think there must be at least 5 people on stage - drums, piano, synthesizer, bass, vocals, and some really great sampling, which can be a detriment if it's not done right - amazing! Oh, and when they rock, they rock hard, as the first track below, Screened In, will attest to. Into You, the next track listed, has it all.

Eymarel is one of those bands we need to to not only keep an eye on, but help spread the word. They play extensively throughout the southeast and are currenty on tour. By word of mouth, and going to their shows with an open mind, they will eventually get what they deserve - recognition. How lucky I was to exprerience such fine musicians just because I had nothing better to do on a Tuesday night.