With It’s A Myth, Sneaks proves bass is the place
Eva Moolchan, the woman who performs and records as Sneaks, is one of Washington, D.C.’s most unique artists. Her singular musical approach amalgamates the most propulsive elements of punk, rock, dance, hip hop, jazz and free improvisation into dense nuggets of rhythm and melody. Driven by her prodigious bass playing and nonchalant half-sung/half-spoken vocals, she usually appears onstage alone, backed by a small drum machine and her bass guitar.
Moolchan honed her craft playing guitar in local bands, but when she started writing songs, she stripped the music and lyrics down to a refined rhythmic essence—just voice, bass, her skittering programmed backbeats and occasional keyboard accents. As her fingers dance over the frets, she unspools an astonishing variety of tempos and textures, the instrument often sounding more like a lead guitar than a bass. When asked about her approach to the instrument, she says, “Bass is more ja ja. Bass got kick. Bass soothes. Guitar is more trelo, but who knows? I may go back.” Her reply is just as cryptic as the lyrics of her songs.
It’s A Myth, her second album, gives us 10 songs compressed into 19 minutes of melodic mayhem. Everything is minimal, but there’s an impressive demonstration of musical and emotional density in every line. “With A Cherry On Top” sounds like a doo-wop confection with some reggae on the side, “Act Out” rides a driving British new-wave bass line to express anxious alienation, while “DEVO” may be a bubbly homage to de-evolution or not.
“It’s a multicolored circus parade,” she says. “The result of being alive in a time of absolute beauty and friction, as well as a lot of personal stuff—being in a binding relationship. Not being grounded. Going to Mexico. Being alone. Snow.”
—j. poet
