One of the strong synthwave albums of 2022 was Hatif’s debut, Everything Is Repetition, via Town And Tower Records. The Swedish based duo of Markus Majdalani and Johan Eckerström, began this musical project in 2020, and May 26th saw their new single, “Long Year“, released into the wild.
Photo by Daniel Kwon
I do love that Hatif have this wonderful ability to meld electronic music with that exotic Middle Eastern flare, and ‘LongYear” is yet another beautiful representation of this ability. However, this latest track seems a lot heavier and darker, as the electronics snap and hiss at times. Around this is the succulent vocals of Markus Majdalani and the sinuous weaving of the synths. Maybe this track by Hatif, is about the time of Covid-19, that did indeed seem like a “LongYear“.
Italian band CodiceEGO has dropped their EP, Rainbow’sEnd on April 21st. This three track EP, is the journey of one band member, who found himself confronted with an illness that no one could diagnose and faced with his own mortality.
The title track, “Rainbow’sEnd” is the first single and is full of a slinky cool vibe, and smooth vocals lending themselves to the Portishead sound, while the throbbing guitar settles below, occasionally breaking out in flourishes. “ErrorsAndRepairs” has post-punk jangliness wending its way through the ebb and flow of emotions in a period of time of being unable to fix the human machine but the most important component is convincing the brain to move on. The last track is the male voiced “Contriver“, the electronics are at the fore with the rhythms pounding from the drums and in an amazingly powerful ending. The survivor looking at what they have gone through.
Post-punk mixed with shoegaze and an understated degree of electronics is a part of the concoction that makes Rainbow’sEnd so easy to listen to, yet the vocals, fuelled by the ocean deep lyrics, for CodiceEGO that make it all gel perfectly.
Italian band, Codice EGO,are back with a new single, “Errors And Repairs“, which is off their soon to be released EP, Rainbow’s End.
A whirlwind of guitars and shifting drum rhythms greet us. The vocals are an island, constant amongst the rolling instrumentation, telling a story of how something happened to them without any known reason, weaving her spell, drawing you into the musical web.
The EP is based around a sudden and unexplained illness, experienced by one of the band members. “Errors And Repairs” is part of this story, a disconnect between the sickness and struggling to comprehend why and how. This is a deeply personal journey, laid bare for the listener by Codice EGO in a raw and yet stunning track.
The Drood are a US based band, on the label eMERGENCY heARTS, that we are not unfamiliar with, and their single “It MustNeeds Wither” has received ‘the treatment‘, also known as the remix from fellow American project Dead Voices On Air which is Mark Spybey. A founding member of Zoviet France and Download with cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy…. honestly you should look him up to see the other artists and acts he has been involved with because it is a lot..
This remix has the ambience of the 60s at Venice Beach at the time of the Mama’s AndThe Papa’s, with a similar vocal arrangement, though the beginning is far more an electronic and ethereal soundscape, tinged with a timeless longing, that seamlessly blends with the singing. “It Must Needs Wither” is based on Shakespeare’s “Othello“, and it is dedicated to those we lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a beautiful remix that is haunting until the last note, so check out the Dead Voices On Air remix of The Drood track “It Must Needs Wither”.
We Are the Compass Rose is the first solo album from Paul Devine: undoubtedly best-known as the frontman and driving force behind 1980s Sheffield UK post-punk / early goth outfit Siiiii. The band formed when Devine was just 19, and were initially active from 1983-1986. Equally notable, then, is the fact that Devine’s solo debut comes forty years this year since he first formed Siiiii.
For English speakers, Siiiii would be more correctly pronounced “See” (not “Sigh”), taking their name from a passage in William S. Burroughs’ The Soft Machine, in which a Spanish-speaking man enjoys being rogered in a public toilet so much that he exclaims, “Siiiii!”. The band themselves, however, have always happily gone along with either pronunciation, thus becoming better known as “Sigh”.
Siiiii
In their heyday, Siiiii shared stages with The Psychedelic Furs, The Chameleons, and Artery; shared members with Pulp (guitarist and drummer Wayne Furniss); and appeared on compilations alongside The Birthday Party and Public Image Ltd. After first quitting the band in ’86, Devine also played with The Niceville Tampa (later simply Niceville), and in 1989 moved to South Wales, where he played for a few years with DVO.
Siiiii reformed again from 2005-2014, even playing as far afield as New York in 2006, having been “rediscovered” by global audiences, who first heard about them through the diligent efforts of goth / post-punk historian Mick Mercer. But during both incarnations of Siiiii, Devine struggled more than most with the pressures of public attention and performing live, later learning with professional help in 2019 that he was experiencing ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Tourette’s Syndrome. More recently, Devine has instead been making a name for himself as an author, publishing four (count them) – four fucking novels since 2020.
We Are the Compass Rose is in many ways a far cry from the jagged and spiky post-punk of Siiiii, albeit peppered throughout with elements that will make perfect sense to fans of that era. Eclectic in nature, We Are the Compass Rose focuses more on the weird and wonderful aspects of dark and gloomy music, from pastoral Avant-folk, to spoken word set against minimalist sound collages, and indeed elements of those earlier post-punk roots. A sensible writer might recommend the best parts of this album to fans of early Bowie (c.1968-71), Current 93, Syd Barret-era Floyd, Coil, classic Bad Seeds or solo Mick Harvey, or The Legendary Pink Dots.
‘Come Unto Me’ is a sort of droning gothic plaintive chant set against sparse psychedelia; blurring the lines between sacred and secular ecstasies. ‘Hearse Song’ is an adaptation of a traditional song, also known as ‘The Worms Crawl In’, commencing with the cautionary line, “Don’t ever laugh as a hearse goes by”. Popular during the period of the First World War, fragments of the lyrics are found as far back as The Monk by Matthew Lewis from 1796, often hailed as the first gothic novel. Devine’s rendition is the rattling bones of an acoustic Bad Seeds outtake; a rickety horse-drawn undertaker’s carriage making a frenzied, spiralling descent into madness; the wooden wheels about to fly off at any moment, while layers of nefarious character voices assail the ears like a swarm of muttering, fluttering bats. ‘The Mill’ could be The Smiths at their most maudlin, and is among the most obvious and accessible conventional ‘song’ forms on display up to this point.
‘Seeing’, which contains the titular line “We are the Compass Rose”, is a striking highlight. Devine’s oratory style here is both masterful and hypnotic, a soothing rumble in one’s ear (albeit with suitably theatrical dynamic to remain engaging throughout), while the prose recited comes from the segue between books 1 and 2 of his most recent novel, Gerda’s Tower. The disquieting motifs of a muted, organ-like tone drift in and out of earshot, barely accompanied by a ride cymbal and incidental percussion. It may also serve, perhaps more by accident than by design, to remind some of us that we have been sleeping on Devine’s literary talent for a little too long.
‘One Skin for Another’ heads back into heavily Smiths-inspired territory, and feels perhaps a little superfluous in context, albeit fairly well done. ‘For the Love of ParkusMann’ is a tender ballad, with a sense of uplifting and transcendence from sadness, which suddenly turns all spacey, awash with flanger effects and sweeping filters, a-la Donovan. ‘Jherome’ is closer to the angular post-punk of Siiiii, whereas the recording and production sounds more like a band of performing flies in a shoebox, recorded by a solitary contact mic.
‘Your Spell’ is a short but satisfying love song: very pretty acoustic guitar arpeggios and tender vocals, accompanied by washes of synth-strings. It ends leaving you hanging on wistfully for more, but that’s also what makes it so perfectly complete. ‘Lassie’ uses the old standard ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ as its intro, blending seamlessly into a swampy-blues-meets-post-punk singalong-dirge, led by intertwining Howard & Harvey Birthday Party-style guitars and Fall-ish vocals. It suffers a little from some of the same recording and production issues common to most “band” (guitar, bass, and drums)-based songs on the album, but is otherwise quite enjoyable.
‘The Mermaid Song’ is another standout: a song describing an unknowable song. It calls you in to the idea of a mesmerising siren song that will lead you down into the deep, without you ever having actually heard that song, which ultimately led the protagonist to his own doom. Devine is in fine voice here, smooth and lulling, with intriguing acoustic guitars and lovely string arrangements behind him.
PAUL DEVINE 1984
‘Every Day is One Day Closer to the Grave’ is both an obvious truism (which the album is littered with), and a better example of a “band” sound than any other on the album. The sound is bigger and fuller, while vocally, Devine shares some similarities here with the late Terry Hall. There is backing from at least one of many credited female backing vocalists, and the whole thing collapses into some kind of astral dispersion of its core elements, ultimately becoming stardust.
‘I Am What I Am’ is the old Broadway musical number: starting with atmospheric piano and intimate voice, before moving into a more vaudeville-meets-English music hall rendition. It quickly moves from there to a stupidly overblown cabaret showband arrangement, complete with elaborately nonsensical brass and strings, and works perfectly as a conclusion to the album, insomuch as the Sid Vicious rendition of ‘My Way’ serves as an entirely appropriate conclusion to the Sex Pistols.
All this from a man who would happily show you his arse and bollocks of a late evening, if only Facebook would allow it, while a long-suffering person named Linzi shakes their head in dismay. We Are the Compass Rose from Paul Devine is a very good album, from a very important artist. The album would probably be even better with less than a handful of songs omitted. Devine showcases here how diverse and eclectic his vocal talents are, ranging from droning choral gloom, to weird and wonderful character voices, through to brilliantly smooth lead baritones in a goth, new-wave, or post-punk style, and engagingly theatrical spoken-word oration. Finding his own voice in amongst all of this is occasionally a challenge, with some songs jumping back and forth stylistically between The Smiths and the Bad Seeds/Birthday Party. But the vast majority of the album, and certainly its strongest moments, don’t rely upon those tropes at all. Musically, conceptually, and creatively diverse, there is real art in what Devine is doing all these years since he first began with Siiiii, and one can only look forward to a second album with an identity entirely its own.
Always exciting to see a band releasing their debut single and hearing their style. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, is the darkwave duo Now After Nothing, with the single “Sick Fix“, out on the 27th of January. Vocalist Matt Spatial and drummer Michael Allen are Now After Nothing and they are joined by the guitar virtuoso, MarkGemini Thwaite (MGT). Just as impressively is the having the mixing done by Carl Glanville, who has worked with U2 and Joan Jett, and the mastering by John Davis, with names like Placebo, Jesus & Mary Chain and Suede under his belt.
A deluge of guitar and bass hits your ears, both raucous and refined at the same time. It is a punk like fevour that grips and further enforced with the vocals from Spatial, MGT’s guitar work and the synths moving together in a sinuous dance, fluid and whirling in a controlled tempest, while Allen gives us the drumbeats that keep this thunderous rhythm gracing our ears.
I was at one of the lowest points of my life and without a musical outlet. I was damaged, defeated, and deflated. One day in New York City, riding through Central Park with earbuds in place, I rediscovered a band that didn’t initially resonate with me. Hearing them this time was different though – I felt the spark. That emotionalconnection to a newly-discovered piece of music was the proverbial kick-in-the-ass I needed to ‘crawl out of cracks below.’ When I arrived home, I dusted of my studio gear and opened up files of previously unfinished song ideas, one of which was a rather bare recording of just a single bass line. It caught my ear and by the day’s end, Sick Fix was complete from start to finish. Listening back to it, I felt alive again. I felt the same spark I had felt that day in Central Park that inspired me and reminded me I had more music inside of me. I wasn’t going to let myself wither away. Though the band name came later, Now After Nothing was really born on that day, which is why Sick Fix undoubtedly needed to be our first single.”- Matt Spatial
So, there is great energy in this track and yes there is definitely a hat firmly tipped towards the old school post-punk such as Bauhaus, but I also hear strains of Alien Sex Fiend and Virgin Prunes in that maelstrom. Yes, originally I believed these guys were actually British going on sound alone, with their wonderful synergy and enthusiasm but don’t think you are getting some old rehash. “Sick Fix” is a wonderfully modern track and I am eager to see what Now After Nothing bring to the table next.
Joshua Murphy is an ex-pat Australian musician, now living in Berlin and his debut solo EP, Lowlands was released in December of 2022, on the aufnahme + wiedergabe label. Lowlands is a slice of Australiana story telling in the bleak and often unforgiving outback, where loneliness, distance, scorching heat and dead cold can easily affect the human psyche. It follows in the gritty southern gothic vein of Nick Cave, where good and evil court in the dust and sweat of yesteryear’s memories, which are long in small country towns. Murphy echoes a tradition of musicians where there is nothing that quite sounds like the Aussie post-punk scene from Cave, or the laconic late Roland S Howard, or the hauntingly beautiful songs of the late David McComb of The Triffids. We spoke to Murphy about the EP, what lead to the writing and was involved in the recording. I will just say that as an Australian, this land leaves an indelible mark under your skin.
You are a member of Crime And The City Solution but you have taken the time to write and record your debut solo material, in the form of “Lowlands”. What prompted you on this solo journey?
I started working on “Lowlands” alongside Producer Martin J. Fiedler in 2019. It was a sort of re-introduction to creation for me after a 5-year break. It was later that I met Simon and was asked to join Crime & The City Solution. Martin had started working with the band on their new record, and I was asked to add some guitars. Which later turned into playing some shows with the band and then joining, but joining Crime came as a result of making “Lowlands”, not the other way around.
Photo by Steve Gullick
Being the sole composer and decision maker, have you found it easier or harder?
There is something very freeing in having full creative control. I knew what kind of record I wanted to create, so having the autonomy to make decisions just meant that I could arrive where I already knew I wanted to go. It is important to say that I wasn’t alone in the process though, I had a great ally in Martin J. Fiedler, who produced, recorded and mixed “Lowlands”. Martin sat with me at the piano, in his home and listened to the sketches of songs as I was writing them, and always gently pointed me in the right direction when it was needed. He helped immensely to sculpt and realise this record. Though I wouldn’t have been able to make “Lowlands” in a band formation, its songs are singular, and deeply personal. I wouldn’t have been able to go there if the focus was one of creative exchange, this wasn’t about that.
“Lowlands” is a gritty a dark release, with many comparing it to the works of Nick Cave, where you can almost feel the dust on your tongue and it does have a lost in the open spaces of the Australian landscape quality. What compelled you to write “Lowlands”?
I’m happy if it makes you feel that. I wanted to write a record that forced, or helped, (depending on how you look at it), me to reflect and confront a lot of the things in myself. I wanted it to sound like my home of Australia, specifically the rural areas where I grew up, with that vastness that can make you feel both connected to something, and completely at its mercy. I was compelled to write a record that felt like me, both lyrically and musically.
Joshua, you make reference to ghosts or tormented spirits, which evokes images of violent and lawless times…. where did you draw the inspiration for the imagery?
“Littered with Ghosts” is about lies and the idea that living within your own fabricated reality gives birth to ghosts, manifestations of lies told, physical companions serving as constant reminders. Specifically relating to the lies we tell ourselves, which is possibly one of the most violent things we can do. To lie to ourselves, distorts everything we are, and everyone around us. The inspiration is drawn from my life, from mistakes made, and from wanting to free myself from the companions I gathered along the way.
There is something of the story teller in Joshua Murphy, so is this something you enjoy in music?
I’m a huge Country, early Blues and Folk music fan. I see these three genres as very similar, just presented by a different people, at a different time. They all speak of truth, they tell tales, there is an imagery and story to their songs, they are generally set over very simple chord progressions, and centred around a singular truth. Love, loss, regret, joy. That’s always been what songs are about for me, the centre, the tale, the music and melody are just there to relay that centre, that story, that truth told.
Do you have a favourite track off “Lowlands” and if so why?
That would be “The Fault Was Lain There Too”. I remember having the idea for the song, and the story that I wanted to tell, but I don’t remember working on it. Generally my songs go through 3 or 4 versions, a sketch, a draft, taking form slowly over time. “The Fault Was Lain There Too” was written in one sitting, recorded into my phone, put aside, and forgotten about. My friend Jesper Munk found it in my phone one night when we were showing each other song ideas. I had this song I was showing him, he kind of shrugged and started searching through my phone for other sketches, finding “The Fault Was Lain There Too”. I very clearly remember us sitting there, listening to it, and laughing about the fact that what we both believed to be my best work so far had been put aside and forgotten. I’m very thankful for that night.
As a multi-instrumentalist, what instruments were used to create “Lowlands”, especially some of the more jarring sounds that give a harsher effect?
I decided on a list of instruments before starting to record “Lowlands”, the idea being that limitations would help retain the narrative of the songs, and also create a narrative in the production of the record itself. Between Martin, Jonathan Dreyfus, and myself, we played all the instruments on “Lowlands”. The voice, piano, guitar, synthesiser, double bass, cello, voila and violin. Anything you hear on the record is made using these instruments, including the percussive sounds. Some of those harsher effects are synthesiser, or the sound of the instruments themselves being hit in a percussive manner.
There is a seductive beauty about dark places whether that is man-made, natural or in the minds and hearts of men. What draws you to the darkness?
I don’t really have a definitive answer to that. Musically I know that I like the sensuality of darker music, the chords and progressions used. I like the violence of the attack, and tension in the instruments played. The danger of the rhythms, the fact that everything sits on the back foot rhythmically, and when done correctly, I find it all to be, as you say, seductive. Although lyrically I’ve always been drawn to hopeful stories. The coupling of dark delivery and hope is something I find to be very human. That sentiment that even though we might be at the bottom, we are looking up. I believe people are hopeful, even if a little dark at times. “Lowlands” is a hopeful record.
For myself, Australian post-punk music has a certain sound or aesthetic you can hear that sets it apart. Do you think this is the case?
I do. I’ve thought about this a lot over the last years. My friend and Producer Martin always comments on the Australian touch, or sound. The chords we use, the way we approach songs. He describes it as uniquely Australian. Beautiful, yet violent, equally sad and hopeful. I’ve come to agree with him, I think it comes from the country itself. Australia is a very unforgiving place, both in the climate, and the people. It can be very harsh and desolate, isolating and lonely, it’s people can be quite rough and violent. On the other hand, It’s also visually stunning, it’s full of impossible landscapes, beautiful and endless. I think it’s the combination of this violent, rough isolation, and the most beautiful, peaceful and endless landscapes I’ve seen, that must take root in us somehow, and ultimately shape the way we play, and this Australian sound.
Photo by Steve Gullick
The German label, aufnahme + wiedergabe is heavily associated with the German post-punk, industrial and dark arts scenes. How did you end up signing and are you still pinching yourself being on their label?
Philipp Strobel (the head of the label) is my best friend. We’ve known each other for 10 years, and have spent a very large portion of that time together. While I was making “Lowlands”, we would sit together, speak about the record and listen to the demo’s, rough mixes and final mixes. The idea was never actually to release on a+w, I actively told him many times through the process, this is not for the label, I just need your opinion on something. It got to the point that he had to sit me down as the record was being finished and say to me. I know you don’t want to release on a+w, but I want to release the record. We both laughed a lot that day.
You have said that the beauty of music is the most important thing on this EP and that it can change for the live shows. Can you explain that a little more?
I think you may have misunderstood me here. What I actually said was that I think that the songs are the most important thing on the record. Everything begins and ends with the songs. Making everything else, whilst it should be beautiful, ultimately interchangeable. What I mean is that, the lines, the instruments, they should be beautiful, and they play a huge role in the delivery of the song in that specific recorded form, but the song exists with or without those elements. These elements can, and should be changed for live shows. I’ve done shows where the songs have been played on an electric guitar with a sampler and loop pedal, I’ve done shows alone with an acoustic guitar. I have played them many times alone on piano, at different tempos, in different keys. I love the music we created for the record, I’m proud of it, and I think it’s very beautiful, I enjoy listening to it very much. I don’t plan to be tied to it though, not in the same way I am tied to the songs. A song is a living thing that can change as we change, it would not serve the song to present it, night after night as some sort of rehearsed theatre piece. A song is not that.
The EP is written from an Australian perspective but do you think in a way, living in Berlin inspired that Australian Identity?
That’s a really good question. I think it has. There are some things about yourself that you don’t see until you look at them from afar. This was certainly the case for me in relation to music and living overseas. That distance in living on the other side of the world for the last decade has shown me that I am fundamentally, whilst I don’t see myself as singularly Australian, I am, in fact an Australian Musician. The parts that come out of me musically, are, at their core, Australian. I’ve also realised that I like that part of myself. I am drawn to an Australian musical Identity.
You have made your life in Germany currently, but do you miss Australia and do you ever think of coming back?
I’ve lived in Germany since March 2013, I have loved my time there, but I don’t think I will stay there forever. I don’t know exactly where I will go next, but I don’t plan to go back to Australia. I loved living in Australia, but I’m not a nostalgic person, I don’t miss it, and I probably won’t miss Germany once I leave. I try to be very involved in what I’m doing, and where I am while it’s happening. Once it’s over I try not to reside there anymore.
Photo by Steve Gullick
What music/bands inspired you when you were younger and have your tastes changed since then?
Growing up I was a guitar player, I was obsessed with notes and that form of expression, it was all Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Eddie Hazel, Omar Rodriquez Lopez. Then I started to move more towards early blues, which is guitar and song, or tale based, people like Howling Wolf, Elmore James, Lighting Hopkins. Around this time I also started to realise what a great lyricist Jimi Hendrix was, I read an article that Jimi always used to carry a book of Bob Dylan lyrics around with him, that took me down the road of Country and Folk music, and that’s when I first got obsessed with stories, what they could do to you, a song with a good story is like a book, it can be devastating, or comforting, and it’s full of imagery and worlds. People like Gillian Welch, Leonard Cohen, Paul Kelly, Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey. Finally it all came back around to people like Rowland S. Howard, who uses the guitar in the way that I love, but also tell stories and write songs, I don’t think too many people do that. That’s what I want to try and achieve, music and songs that are both parts beautiful.
Can we be expecting an album at some point?
For sure, I’m working on the next release already, I’m half way through writing the songs, I’ll keep writing for another half a year and then start recording. I’m planning to have it finished this year in order to release in 2024. That’s the plan, but I don’t want to rush things, it will take as long as it takes.
Soooo, this is the fun bit. You are asked to contribute a cover song for a compilation and you can have guest musicians on it. What song are you going to cover and which musicians are you going to include, remembering that we don’t mind a bit of necromancy here when it comes to music and are willing to dig up a few souls?
Dead Radio, featuring Rowland S. Howard!
Thank you Joshua for being a good sport and talking to us today.
Not all darkwave heroes run around, brandishing you over the head with big beats and synth confectionery. Today, we are introducing you to German solo artist Meersein and his new single “Speechless” which is an acoustic version, and third single to date from this project.
There is such an extraordinarily palpable melancholy to Meersein’s beautifully clean vocals, only supported by an acoustic guitar and piano. His singing is beseeching to one he loves, to recognise the fact that he isn’t like other people and desperately wants to talk to them but has become speechless.
“Speechless” was Meersein’s debut release, back in around June of this year, and it was a far different track in a completely electronic vein. The Germans seem to have this affinity to take a song, break it down to the bare bones, and imbue the track with an even more eloquent heart. It made me think a lot of Lord OfThe Lost and the times they have done this with tracks or orchestrated them. A yearning heart from the dispossessed is “Speechless“.
Alexander Leonard Donat... teacher, marathon runner, musician, man behind the label Blackjack IlluministRecords, co-conspirator for several musical acts, driving force behind his own project Vlimmer and very possibly a crime fighter by night (just saying Vlimmer man has a certain ring to it!). November saw Vlimmer’s second, full length album, Menschenleere, enter the watery light of day.
The first tastes of forbidden fruit came our way in the form of the two singles, the rhythm filled darkwave tendrils of “Erdgeruch” and the wondrously 80s inspired eccentricity of “Kronzeuge“. There are such gems hidden within, such as “Mathematik” with its giddy synths that remind me so much of the electronic trailblazer, John Foxx, even more so for the fact his backing band were The Maths.
“Noposition” has a magical trance like quality within its warm embracing beats, while “Schwimmhand” leaves you not only amazed by the sheer brilliance but also experiencing tingles through your extremities. Even the title track has an ancient feel, whilst playing with time signatures. “Menschenleere” is vast and echoing in the chamber of what might not be a pained reality.
Yes you can dance to Vlimmer, but for me, there is something akin to multiple storylines. Each track is crafted just so, this one with a more science fiction vibe, another with more sombre tones and yet another with a spinning glorious shoegaze vision. All held together by Donat’s vocals, be they happy, sad or even imploring.
Vlimmer is the centre of this world he has created, and has the knack of spinning his musical tales that capture us up into this web of darkwave delights. Even better is the fact that Alexander touches back to the styles that have influenced him but he never let’s them consume him, rather experimenting to create tracks that encapsulate his music journey. Beautiful, fragile and ashened songs to drink, dance to, and watch the moon…Menschenleere(Deserted)
So you went out drinking last night… what do you remember, where are you now and what is that smell? Brisbane’s Dream OfMachines, has delivered the debut single, “Nocturnal Omissions“, on the Viral Records label. The fact that you might be scratching your head and wondering if this is a dirty title, probably tickles the fancy of Zane Seymour, the man behind the machines that dream.
Your journey is first greeted with an excerpt from “The spiritual consequences of alcohol“, by Jason Christoff, the vocals floating in the aether but not for long as the guitars plunder your senses. What thefuck happened last night? is the question that haunts him. From silken singing, to enraged screams, because while he was entoxicated…. was his body taken over by an outside force intent on creating havoc?
There is the seven minute opus or the more radio friendly edit, but both are worthy of your listening, for there is never a dull moment. There is everything from simple piano playing, Seymour’s brilliant vocals, all the way to an explosive cacophony of sound and it is all quite glorious, helped along by the mixing & mastering of Roger Menso. Alcohol can really be evil (even influencing a human to eat liquid soap) yet is the drink the devil or is something even more sinister waiting in the shadows to take over…..? You will have to make your mind up when you listen to “Nocturnal Omissions” by Dream OfMachines.
Onyx Music Reviews 