By Keith Walsh
Eva X is nobody’s whipping girl –she makes this quite clear on the opening track of her debut album, I Dream Of A Reality. (Eva’s previous non-single release was the Electrowoman EP, from 2019.) The new disc is on the Distortion Productions label.
Though the album features a few previously released singles, there’s lots of new tracks too, as well as remixes. Throughout, Eva X (in reality, Gaby Gustafson) presents dramatic tunes with expert darkwave beats, smartly defiant lyrics and skilled production by Adam Mah and Shane Stephenson.

On the album’s opener, “Whipping Girl,” Gustafson’s protagonist defies submission, while on “Machine” she imagines herself as an android pleading for love. On “Your Kind” she finds herself transforming herself into whatever the object of her love desires. Themes of control and submission run throughout the album, perhaps nowhere better than in “Control.” The lovely “Broken Wings” replays a heartbreak that we can only hope is fictional. Happily, Gaby is contentedly married to Erik Gustafson of Adoration Destroyed, so the drama in these songs is quite imaginary.

The idea around technology changing us as human beings, and how this affects our intimate relationships is a compelling one, and the concept resonates here. Eva has defined herself as “a robot girl singing about human things,” and certainly the aesthetic possibilities of future love are intriguingly presented in these songs, which range in texture from Depeche Mode, to Yazoo and Stacey Q.

Husband Erik plays electric guitar on the metallic “Tear Down These Walls,” which as the most guitar-based song on the album, breaks the format.  Eva X is fresh off live performance, which I know from footage online, were quite spectacular.

The remixes on the album, by Adoration Destroyed, Nebulae Complex, and SPANKTHENUN are all outstanding. I Dream Of A Reality is streaming most everywhere, including Bandcamp and Spotify.

Eva X On Bandcamp
Eva X On YouTube
Eva X On Twitter
Eva X On Spotify

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