Antipole, aka Karl Morten Dahl, from the currently frozen land of Norway, and Paris Alexander of the not quite as cold UK, have just released a new single. This post-punk/coldwave track is called “Sad Lover (Desolated),” and I am not sure if this ties into anything, about seven years ago, they had another song called “Shadow Lover.”
My breath slows as I take in the drum machine beats with the bass guitar’s deep rumbling, which is old school post-punk in the style of Peter Hook (Joy Division), drawing you in. The lead guitar work is seriously sublime, and delicately echoes, supported by the equally lightly winding synths. Alexander’s vocals are smooth and subdued, reeking of cooling dusk, and yet still intensely moving.
The music video is shot between the snowy pine forests of Norway, and an old church in England, with an attached graveyard. This heightens the stark reality of loneliness and inevitable death, but it also pulls into focus that “Sad Lover (Desolated)” is also about realising that snow covered scenery is beautiful, or that there is an austere dark peace around the tombstones of those long gone. It is finding the elegance and grace in that which could be seen as desolate. Antipole & Paris Alexander have delivered another perfect track in “Sad Lover (Desolated).”
https://www.instagram.com/antipoleband/
https://www.instagram.com/parisalexandermusic/
Onyx Music Reviews 