Schmieds Puls is an Austrian trio led by singer-songwriter-guitarist Mira Lu Kovacs, who also plays in the local jazz-funk group, and as a true Viennese she is «completely in love with Franz Schubert and Gustav Mahler». The trio features drummer Christian Grobauer, who produced the trio new album together with Lu Kovacs, and double bass player Walter Singer.
The title of Schmieds Puls third album, «Manic Acid Love», already suggests its emotional territory, the most edgy and thorny phases of a love-hate relationship. Lu Kovacs presents different aspects of this kind of stormy relationship from an unapologetic, feminist perspective, opinionated and demanding but also vulnerable and touching. But she does much more than employing her natural charisma and charming elegance. She employs her voice as an instrument that exposes deeper emotional nuances, allowing the listener to grasp immediately her state of mind by the way of her phrasing of the lyrics.
Lu Kovacs, Grobauer and Singer adopt pop-songs sensibilities but the musical range of Schmieds Puls is much more ambitious. There are songs that in a better, just world would be instant radio hits, others visit classical, chamber formats and few songs are much louder, especially when Lu Kovacs adds effects to her acoustic guitar and plays some killer metal riffs. Grobauer and Singer embrace the vocals of Lu Kovacs with subtle, flexible pulses, accentuate any nuance in her delivery and rarely subscribe to common rhythmic patterns, often in a manner that brings to mind the rhythmic patterns of the songs of American singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco.
Add to that the witty yet subtle lyrics of Lu Kovacs, with their emotional intelligence, naked honesty and strong, independent perspective. She will convince you that she only wants to run from her hypocrite lover on «Run» or make you believe that she can even bite this lover head off on the catchy «Don’t Love Me Like That» (but actually still yearn to be with this lover). It becomes totally obvious that she is far superior than her confused, comfortably numb lover on the playful-fragile-metallic «Superior (F**k You))». Yes, Lu Kovacs is angry, direct and challenging, but most likely, she may win your love.
Eyal Hareuveni
Mira Lu Kovacs (v, g), Christian Grobauer (dr), Walter Singer (b)
