Posts Tagged ‘Review’

Strange Pink – Out of Focus

Posted: 24 August 2025 in Singles and EPs
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8th August 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Unlike Morrissey, I actually like it when my friends become successful, and when people I know – directly or otherwise – through music, go on to make new music that’s not only good, but gets the attention it deserves. And so it is that Strange Pink, an act consisting of local and regional musical luminaries Sam Forrest (formerly of Nine Black Alps, currently of Sewage Farm (who I covered way back in 2017), Eddie Alan Logie, and Dom Smith and, who’s previously played in Mary And The Ram (who have also appeared here), Creature Honey, (and let’s not forget the formidable Parasitic Twins), have been getting airplay from 6Music and Radio X with their first single, ‘Pencil Chewer’.

It’s not hard to grasp why this track has been picked up on: it’s kinda grungy, but also has that Britpop indie energy and a strong sense of melody, and I’m reminded of the time the first EP by Asylums landed on my doormat pretty much the day before they got a track played on Sunday Brunch. There’s no direct correlation or correspondence, of course, but it’s one of those songs that has a particular energy that makes you sit up, prick up your ears and grabs in an instant. It’s a rare event because while the format of pop has moved on to accommodate the era of the short attention span by essentially starting with the chorus and whittling songs down to two and a half minutes of little other than chorus, other genres still persist in incorporating things like intros and verses and bridges. ‘Pencil Chewer’ is a slice of classic 90s indie / alt rock, with hints of The Wedding Present and that fuzzy, lo-fi vibe of Dinosaur Jr circa You’re Living All Over Me or Bug but with breezy Ash-like melody dominating, and then things turn really Pavement in the final third. The delivery is lovely, boisterous, even, and it hits so sweetly as a summer smash that so nearly made it. It’s clear they’ve struck gold with this formula.

But Strange Pink clearly don’t do formula, as listening to this EP evidences this as fact: ‘Wonderland’ is Disintegration era Cure with vintage shoegaze vibes – think early Ride or Chapterhouse, but also The Charlatans at that time. It’s a slice of dreamy, wistful melancholia with a psychedelic hue, and it’s achingly magnificent. Joh n Peel would have been all over it. In contrast, ‘My Friend and You’ drives in hard with thumping drums, murky bass and squalling guitars, landing between The Jesus and Mary Chain and Nirvana. None of this is to say that it’s derivative, but it’s clear that they’re drawing on their influences here. Every band does to a certain extent, but Strange Pink balance appropriation with quality songwriting – and the latter counts for a lot.

‘Boy’s Club’ (also a single) is a killer slacker anthem, and absolutely nails one of the troubles of our time in the opening lines: ‘You don’t have to be such a dick / Just because your daddy thinks that he’s rich / Don’t have to be such a jerk / just because your daddy don’t have to work.’ It succinctly stabs a finger at entitlement and inherited wealth, and the shitty behaviour that almost invariably follows. Fuck that, and fuck that kind of people. But in the hands of Strange Pink, this is a magnificent anthem.

The seven-and-a-half minutes closer, ‘Nowhere’ is truly magnificent, and worthy of the term ‘epic’. It’s a soft, mellow, indie song, marking something of a departure… but departure is good. Strange Pink keep things evolutionary

In 1993 or 1994 this would have had critics frothing and fans clamouring. Now… sadly not so much, although amidst the nu-metal revival, they may be on the cusp of leading a cultural turn here, because ultimately, quality always rises, and it does seem that the long-threatened grunge revival may be happening after all. I hope so. This is the good shit. Get your lugs round it now.

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Zabus – Whores of Holyrood

Posted: 13 August 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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12th August 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Zabus have been on fire lately, as their recent EP, Shadow Genesis, released in June. It’s not only the prolific output which is noteworthy – some acts spunk out new material every other week, but the quality simply isn’t there – but we’re looking at a creative purple patch of innovation and ideas flowing in full spate. Whores of Holyrood is their fifth full-length album in less than two years, and while Zabus is ordinarily a collective centred around project founder Jeremy Moore, Whores of Holyrood is the first ostensibly solo release by Moore under the moniker, and it’s also pitched as ‘one of the most overtly political statements from Zabus to date.’

This matters. Anyone with an outlet, or a platform, right now, has, a duty to state their position. Silence is complicity. We know this from history. Individually, there is next to nothing we can do to stop Trump’s fascistic march, or halt the genocide in Gaza, or stop the wat in Sudan. But fucking hell, we are witnessing hell on earth right now. To take a line from William Burroughs’ Exterminator, ‘There are no innocent bystanders … what are they doing there in the first place?’ I don’t necessarily entirely agree with the stance, but it’s worth unpacking a bit, particularly in the context of 2025, when people are more likely to film the most horrific events on their phones and post them on social media than to intervene. I know, people are scared and all the rest, but… something is deeply wrong.

The title, Whores of Holyrood, immediately made me think of the Scottish parliament, but it would appear that there is no connection or implication intended. Instead, the album ‘explores the positive feedback loop between fascist authoritarian rule and societal inaction, apathy and resignation. Holyrood is a metaphor for the established classist hierarchy which derives its strength and influence from our subjugation.’

As an aside, ‘rood’ is a middle English term with its origins in Saxon for the cross, and a rood screen was a feature of medieval churches, a carved wooden partition depicting the crucifixion. Whores of Holyrood may not have any direct or specific connection to these historical roots, but they still seem somewhat relevant, albeit tangentially.

It’s ‘Shadow Genesis’, the lead track from the recent EP that launches the album with its reverb-heavy blues guitar and gothic stylings, and it’s dark, brooding, but it’s nothing to the snarling lo-fo post-punk goth epic that is ‘Burn to Your Own Destruction’: six and a half minutes of echo-soaked guitar swirling beneath bombastic baritone vocals, while the tile track is commanding, archly gothic, but with murky black metal production values. The same is true of ‘A-YA Bullet V’, which brings the driving funk groove of Bauhaus at their best, while also pushing the experimentalism to the fore.

‘Cremation Psalm’ is a murky swagger, equal parts Nick Cave and The Volcanoes, and every track on this album is pure gold. The muffled, echo-heavy production is not a detriment, but an asset, accentuating the old-school vibe which is s integral to the experience.

‘Sod Martyr’ is dark, dark, dark, and sparse, and something about it calls to mind The Honolulu Mountain Daffodils, while ‘Strangers of Non-Being’ brings together goth and heavy psychedelia with the addition of low, slow drone

If the Shadow Genesis EP showcased a keen experimentalism, and a broad range of stylistic touchstones, then Whores of Holyrood takes it all to the next level. Zabus keep pushing forward, outward, onward. Right now, it seems there is no stopping them.

AA

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Papillon de Nuit – Frozen Charlotte

Posted: 8 August 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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8th August 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

The seventh single released by the Papillon de Nuit project / collective / ensemble centred around Stephen Kennedy is perhaps the most ambitious yet. It’s clear that Kennedy, who has for a number of years, operated as a live music promoter under the guise of The Velvet Sheep, is an irrepressible creative, a restless spirit never content to do or be any one thing. In Papillon de Nuit, he’s songwriter, arranger, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, bringing to this track vocals, found-sounds, additional percussion, additional piano. And here, in just three and a half minutes, he and his collaborators have produced a song which is many things at once. They’ve also got Steve Whitfield, known for his work with The Cure and The Mission (admittedly, some of my least favourite works by The Mission, but that’s more a matter of material than production) in as producer again.

Being drawn to certain names because of songs is, I suppose, only natural: favourite songs create images and associations which in some way we use to orientate ourselves within the world, internally. And there’s no doubt that Charlotte, like Alice, is a name with special resonance to those with musical tastes which lean towards the gothier domains. That Robert Smith’s inspiration for ‘Charlotte Sometimes’ was inspired by Penelope Farmer’s haunting 1969 novel of the same title was reason enough for me to track down and read a copy of the book, and in context, the doubling / overlapping of the vocals can be seen to represent the parallel / interchangeable lives of the lead character.

‘Frozen Charlotte’ is also a work of a historical persuasion, described as ‘a dark Victorian morality tale about the folly of vanity.’ And it is, indeed, dark. It arrives with a sharp squeal of feedback and the crunch of feet on gravel, before a low but springy – classic goth – and ultimately stealthy bass strolls in and completely shapes the song’s framework. Rolling drums – a minimal, Mo Tucker style, which adds to the stark, brooding atmosphere. The addition of cello and piano builds things further ahead of the arrival of the vocals. It is all about the intro and the build here, but Kennedy gives a magnificent performance. It’s not the overdone booming baritone goth cliché, but a rich, soulful delivery which imbues the lyrics with meaning, in what I can perhaps best describe as a ‘literary’ sense. What I mean by this that while studying English literature at university, some lecturers had the ability to get you completely hooked in a writer because the way they delivered the quotations had impact: they felt the words, and could convey them in a way that opened your eyes to the fact the word on the page contained so much more depth when orated with passion.

The chorus here is understated, the emphasis very much on the dark atmosphere, although the vocal melody does still provide a clear and vital hook, and the ultimate result is alchemical.

AA

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Frozen Charlotte artwork

GHXST – Cosmic

Posted: 21 July 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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21st July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

I’ve been digging GSXT for a whole decade now and shouting about it whenever the opportunity arises. I’m not sure how many people have been paying attention, but anyone who hasn’t has been missing out. They took their timing building up to their debut album, released in 2022, with half a dozen EPs preceding it. ‘Cosmic’ is the first material since Admire, three years ago, and this new single continues their trajectory of extending their repertoire, taking the form of a slow-building expansive brooder.

A cinematic piece of post-punk desert rock, and with hints of recent releases by Earth ‘Cosmic’ tones down the snarling overdrive that’s the duo’s signature sound in favour of something more hypnotic, in the vein of ‘Sonores’. It suits them well, as it happens: Shelly X’s voice drifts and aches through the bass-led verses, floating in a growing swirl of guitars in the chorus before a straight-up rock guitar solo swoops in.

To describe ‘Cosmic’ as commercial would be rather misleading, because it’s certainly no sell-out. But it does mark a significant step. What’s more, it’s absolutely huge, and immediately accessible, making it the cut which has the broadest appeal yet. Maybe now they’ll listen up, eh?

AA

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Simon Fisher Turner – Closing the Circle

Posted: 13 July 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Mortality Tables – 11th July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

And so it is that the third season of Mortality Tables LIFEFILES series – and, indeed, LIFEFILES as a project, closes as it began just over two years ago, with its thirtieth instalment coming courtesy of Simon Fisher Turner. As such, this release is appropriately titled.

The premise of the series, which we’ve covered quite extensively here over the course of its running, is that curator and Mortality Tables label owner, Mat Smith, furnishes an artist with a field recording for them to more or less do as they please. Some of the reworkings and manipulations have been quite radical; others, less so. But what each has offered is a snapshot of a particular place at a specific time, reimagined and retold at distance by a third party. If this sounds rather absurd, it’s worth considering that this is essentially how history is formed – by the interpretation and re-presentation of primary source material to create a linear narrative. But how much can we trust the narrator? Even that primary source recording is just that – a recording. It is not the actual event. Therefore, with each revision, there is a move further away from the actual event. There evolves a certain historical layering, not so much akin to the degradation of a photocopy of a photocopy, but a drawing of a drawing, subject to ever-increasing distortions, deviations, corruptions.

As the accompanying notes inform us – quite factually – ‘The LIFEFILES series commenced in March 2023 with a piece by Simon Fisher Turner made using sounds recorded at an exhibition of works by the Memphis collective at Milton Keynes Gallery. The series concludes with a final piece from Fisher Turner, again using sounds recorded at Milton Keynes Gallery, this time at an Andy Warhol exhibition.’

This piece is only a little over eleven minutes long: a single or EP rather than an album – but Simon Fisher Turner packs a lot into that time. It begins with the slow-echoing of voices, a low mutter, the sound of voices, perhaps, chattering in a gallery – slowed and distorted, there’s a sense of discomfort, of the unheimlich, before a mid-range chimes in and hovers. So far, so ambient – but then some crushing percussion batters in and from nowhere things go a bit Test Dept. Trudging industrial beats slog away relentlessly, and they’re multi-layered and multitracked and hammer away from all angles in surround sound. There are some lulls, some drops in pitch and volume, occasional rests in tempo, even – but this is first and foremost a full-on beat assault. The speakers crunch and crackle and the beats thump and stomp.

Glitching, grinding bass enters the fray around the mid-point, albeit briefly, before swiftly vanishing, replaced instead by a subsonic sonar – and then things really get ugly. There’s a violence to this beat-driven blast, which even during the moments where it’s taken down a notch or three, there’s a sense of menace, something underlying that’s uncomfortable. The delicate chiming of a singing bowl or somesuch in the last couple of minutes, even when it yields to a quiet, low rumble, does little to dissipate the tension which has built – and built. But in the end, as is always the case, the ultimate end is silence. And so it is that the circle finally closes.

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Shallow Honey – What You Made Me Do

Posted: 30 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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5th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

It may seem hard to believe, but there is music beyond Glastonbury at this time of year, and it may seem even harder to credit, but more than ten acts played the festival. And because right now, it seems there’s nothing but wall-to-wall debate over Bob Vylan’s performance, I feel more than ever that my job here is to focus my energy elsewhere. The only thing I will say on the matter is that it’s staggering just how vehement the criticism has been of the band in the media and by the government, when criticism of the perpetrators of genocide has been largely non-existent. The statement on the stage backdrop makes the point perfectly: “Free Palestine. The United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict’.” And yet, I’ve observed countless couch warriors calling Bob Vylan ‘opportunists’ and ‘attention seekers’.

And this is where we land with ‘What You Made Me Do’, the new single by female-fronted grungy alt-rock four-piece Shallow Honey. Not because it’s a political song – it isn’t – but because it’s a song that comes from that breaking point where something just gives. Because normal dialogue simply has no effect. When the only way to get someone to listen is by going to an extreme.

I am screaming for attention

finding all the words

the words that can offend you.

Rai, Shallow Honey’s vocalist, describes the meaning behind the track: “WHAT YOU MADE ME DO is a track about when you have been calmly expressing your feelings and frustrations to someone over a long period of time, yet have not been heard. After a while of repeating yourself and trying to meet them where they’re at with nothing back – you will snap! Like holding a beach ball under water – you can only push it down for so long. It feels good to let go – but it’s also really scary and sobering”.

It’s indubitably relatable for most of us – and for those who it’s not relatable, it’s likely because you’re the one who’s given to endless stonewalling, the shit who will act surprised, dumbfounded, offended, and then suggest that this is an overreaction from someone who’s being sensitive or whatever.

‘What You Made Me Do’ is appropriately fiery, with driving guitars to the fore in what is a solid rock tune that would could have come from that early ‘90s golden age of grunge. But Rai’s vocals, while, strong, bring melody, with a tone reminiscent of Gwen Stefani, giving the song an instant accessibility – without diluting the power of the sentiment.

B-sides ‘Aim Low’ and ‘Start the Ride’ are both of a similar quality, with guts and a raw energy that’s completely compelling.

In short: this is good stuff. Dig it. More soon, please.

AA

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Shallow Honey - Artwork

Dark Scrotuum – Rotting Dream

Posted: 29 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Dark Scrotuum – Rotting Dream

Cruel Nature – 27th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

As the label recently hailed in its midyear roundup, Newcastle-based cassette label Cruel Nature has put out some forty releases so far in 2025, which equates to one every fortnight. It’s no small achievement, particularly considering that not only are they essentially a one-man operation but they’re hardly mainstream in their output – and what’s more, that output is remarkably diverse. More often than not, niche labels adhere to a fairly narrow range, whether it’s black metal, indie, or experimental in nature: they know their audience, and cater to them, knowing they will shift inventory. Cruel Nature takes a different approach, which isn’t without risk, in that they release music they feel meets a standard based on quality rather than style, meaning that label collectors may not love everything – at least at first – but will be introduced to stuff they wouldn’t have otherwise listened to, and fans of given bands or styles will make discoveries by association.

And so we come to Rotting Dream by the wonderfully if somewhat crassly-named Dark Scrotuum. You know before you hit play that whether it’s black metal or power electronics, it’s probably going to be pretty nasty, right? Right. It’s pitched, quite succinctly, as ‘crushing dark ambient BM drone sludge noise’. BM could as readily be taken in the American sense – bowel movement – as black metal here. And believe it or not, that’s not a diss. Anyone who’s familiar with Aural Aggravation will be more than aware that heavy shit is our bag, and specifically my bag. And this is some heavy shit, bowel-trembling, uncomfortable, heavy shit.

The first of the three tracks, ‘Skin the Fool’, is seven and a half minutes of earth-shifting, stomach-churning dark ambience with a growling, grumbling industrial edge. It’s dark, and it’s heavy, a constant, heavyweight rumbling, the sound of destruction, of desolation, like slow-motion detonation. The first three minutes alone are utterly harrowing, and then, from nowhere, it goes nuclear, a churning blast of noise so dense it hurts, an extended billowing explosion that replicates the impact of Threads. Game over? Life over. Existence over.

Dark scrotuum? Tense and shrivelled scrotuum is the initial reaction to this brutally harsh work. ‘Pineal Gland Turning to Mush’ is ten minutes of tension, meaning the track is appropriately titled, barrelling into a relentless wall of harsh noise. It’s not quite HNW because there is texture and variation over its duration… but fuck. It’s abrasive, obliterative. I find myself sitting here, sweating, wide-eyed, uncomfortable. This is… intense, alright. It hurts.

And then, there is ‘Tears of a Flower’, the harshest heaviest, most explosive cut of the three. Toss Sunn O))), Prurient, Swans, and Vomir together and you’re about there. It seems that Dark Scrotuum have pulled together everything – and I mean everything – they can conceive to create the nastiest, most overloading wall of noise possible. ‘Tears of a Flower’ is a punishing, brutal sonic assault which offers no respite, only more pain, and more pain and more pain. And you feel it. There is not one fleeting moment of kindness, no respite. This is music to puke to as you feel your eardrums collapsing and your soul shrivelling. As for our dream…it’s over.

AA

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Deaf Center – Reverie

Posted: 27 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Sonic Pieces – 30th May 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Five years is quite some time, and a lot has happened in the last five, that’s for certain. Although the fact so much has happened means that the last five years have been something of a void for many. And so it is that Reverie, recorded in October of 2024, sees Otto A Totland (piano) and Erik K Skodvin (guitar, cello, electronics, and processing) reunited in concert for the first time since 2019.

It’s pitched as ‘a follow up to 2014’s Recount, which saw two pieces of music created around their live-sets in different periods. This time, we are treated with a contemporary, raw live performance from October 2024 in Rabih Beaini’s studio, Morphine Raum in Berlin, during the 15th anniversary celebration of Sonic Pieces.’

The two longform pieces which make up Reverie were recorded live, and as if to prove the point, there’s the sound of a light cough just as the first piano note hits, then hangs in the air. They could have dubbed it out, I’m sure, but to have done so would be against the spirit of this work – spontaneous, improvised, in the moment. The recording is not only about capturing the music, but the moment itself.

The seventeen-minute ‘Rev’ is delicate, built primarily around Totland’s graceful, nuanced piano work, and considerable reverb, which may well be natural from the room, but however the sound is achieved, the sense of space is integral to the atmosphere. Skodvin’s contribution is magnificently understated: the slow scrapes of strings and subtle sonic details may seem secondary or additional because they’re not the focal point, but without them, the effect would be diminished by more than half. A great musician is not necessarily the one who dominates or demonstrates virtuosic talents, but the one who understands their contribution to the work as a whole, and appreciates that less is more. And so it is that elongated notes quiver and quail, wailing tones and sonorous drones swirl about and bring so much depth and texture, an as the piece progresses, the piano and extraneous incidentals achieve an equilibrium, and it’s utterly mesmerising.

‘Erie’ turns the tables, and it’s Skodvin’s strings which take the lead initially, before trepidatious piano creeps in. Trilling tones hang hauntingly like distant memories and displaced ghosts, and there’s a melancholia to this piece which is difficult to define, but lingers amidst the brooding lower notes. The slow piano is soft, and sad, while tremulous strings evoke a sense of something lost, somehow.

Without words, Reverie paints a picture, and hints that memories and reveries are inherently tinged with sadness. For even to recall a happy time is to remember a moment which has passed, and will be relived. However many times one may return to a particular place which is imbued with fond memories, however many times one may listen to that favourite song which carries such joyous connotations, that moment, that time will forever continue to recede into the past, never to be experienced again. The past is forever past, and will become further past with each day that goes by. Summers will never be as long, or as carefree as in childhood. The exhilaration of new experiences will never provide the same buzz, however hard you chase it. And with this realisation comes the slow fade, and a sense of acceptance. Bask in the reverie, and hold those times dear as the years slip away.

AA

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Photo: Alex Kozobolis

Rupert Lally – Lunar Forms

Posted: 23 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Mortality Tables – 20th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Lunar Forms is Rupert lally’s second release on Milton Keynes label Mortality Tables, following his Interzones album, released in November last year, and forms part of the latest ongoing project by the label, dubbed The Impermanence Project (which so happened to feature a tense but lugubrious ambient work by some guy called Nosnibor a short while ago).

Sometimes, while I try to work through my review pile in a broadly systematic way, I have to reshuffle my priorities according to mood. And right now, my mood is jittery, jumpy, tense, unfocused, meaning that what I need is something fairly gentle, somewhat abstract, if not necessarily ambient. But also something which feels relevant, in some adjacent fashion. And so here we are: bombs are dropping and missiles are flying, and it’s maybe easy to dismiss it as taking place at a safe enough distance away…. But is any distance truly safe enough?

And so, it’s necessary to seek solace in distraction, solace in abstraction, something that offers layers and textures that draw you in, captivate the attention… but at the some time, offers something more to reflect on while listening to the glitches and echoes, woozy, skitty fragments of analogue pull my attention in different directions.

Impermanence… as polyartist and the innovator of the cut-up method, Brion Gysin said, ‘we’re all here to go’. And we are. We fear it, but it’s impossible to escape the inevitable. It’s not a question of if, but when.

Lunar Forms transitions between stuttering, glitching minimal techno and slowcore EDM, and more expensive, cinematic instrumental sounds which are overtly ambient. Electronic fuzzed and buzzes spark over swirling soundscapes, and at times we’re led into Tangerine Dream territory, while at others, we find ourselves adrift. The fact that, including bonus tracks, Lunar Forms features eighteen pieces, and has a running time of some seventy-four minutes, is significant. It’s a vast and expansive work, and one which is easy to get lost in, since the tracks are distinguished only numerically, ad those numerical titles are not tagged sequentially.

There is a lot of dark atmosphere, a lot of rumbling. There is much haunting reverb, considerable space, a great deal of bubbling, blipping, hovering. The deeper it plunges into spacious, cloud-like disturbance, the more immersive and simultaneously the more the power of this work increases. Breathe deep… and feel everything this represents. ‘313’ May be sparse, but it also edges its way into the space between dance music and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, while ‘325’ pitches jittery microtonal beats against sonorous strong-like sound. It’s simultaneously tense and introverted, and outward-facing through cloud. The beats of ‘303’ are like the dripping of a tap amidst synthesizer drones and swirls. And it goes on. As such, Lunar Forms is more than varied: it straddles boundaries in a way which renders it almost impossible to place.

AA

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Metamorph – Harlot EP

Posted: 22 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Distortion Productions – 20th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Ahead of their new full-length album release, Haunted Hearts, slated for an autumn release, Metamorph have served up the Harlot EP, which offers their usual blend of glistening electropop with a dark gothy, witchy flavour, and promises to be ‘your summer soundtrack—sweat, stilettos, and seduction.’

Living in the north of England, the last thing I would have expected to be doing was writing this at what is, with any luck, the tail-end of a heatwave – but is does mean that while I’m short on the stilettos and seduction, I have more than enough sweat to make up for it. But it does remind me of the difference in where UK goth – particularly the early stuff – and US goth comes from in terms of its geography and broader environs. As the phrase goes, ‘it’s grim up north’. It rains a lot. It’s often cloudy, windy, and cold. Until recent years, if it went over 20ºC, even in the summer, it was hot, and you’d be forced to remove the leather jacket. These conditions, coupled with generally poor conditions of low wages, high unemployment, and social deprivation, meant that dark music articulated the experience of the world as is.

America has always had its own problems, of course, but summer has always been a bit different from on this side of the pond – inasmuch as the US tended to have summers. Anyway. ‘Harlot’ is classic Metamorph: uptempo. HI-NRG, somewhat sultry, gothy electropop, and concise, clocking in at a fraction over two and a half minutes. With pounding beats and a throbbing bass, it’s got that late 80s eurodisco / technogoth vibe, with a hint of KMFDM but popped up. In terms of singles, it delivers everything you’d want.

The five remixes are solid, in particular – and I’ve amazed myself in writing this – the dance mix, which really places the bass and the beats to the fore, and the expansive Allie Frost Remix is really quite special, adding a well-suited 80s spin to the sound, led by a dominant snare which is just perfect.

But my awkwardness with remix-led releases remains, and this EP gives us the same song, six times. It’s a good song, and some of the remixes are great, but… Bring on the album.

AA

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