Founded by Shravan back in 2017, Montréal-based goth/synth pop outfit Perestroika was conceived as more than just a band; but as an act of audacious reinvention: The band’s founder fled the sweltering chaos of the American South for the Great North, and he envisioned Perestroika as a mystical assembly where sound met the ethereal.
Mickey Dagger, a former member of Omegas and Gustavo Rodriguez was the first band member to join. Their first release was a demo that saw the pair meshing elements of British post-punk, goth and synth pop, anchored by the Oberheim DMX drum machine and an ever-growing arsenal of synthesizers.
When the world ground to a halt because of the pandemic, the band’s sound — perhaps fittingly — delved deeper into the shadows. With the addition of Jonah Falco, the then-newly constituted trio released 2021’s Monolith EP, an effort that saw the band seemingly pairing the dystopian pulse of Kino, the decadent and swooning harmonies of Roxy Music and Giorgio Moroder‘s disco pulse with eerily delivered lyrics that thematically focused on existential questions and concerns.
Emerging from the bleak desperation of the pandemic, the Montréal-based outfit expanded to a quartet with the addition of Sebastien Page (drums). Their sound went through another evolution with the band drawing from New Order and Pet Shop Boys — and funk-inspired grooves.
The newly-constituted quartet’s latest single “Midnight Twilight” is a hook-driven bit of synth pop that’s seemingly a slick synthesis of Depeche Mode, Human League, early 80s New Order, Electronic and the like with disco and synth funk groove paired with punchily delivered vocals and reverb-gated drums. It’s a dance floor friendly bop that subtly and lovingly modernizes a familiar and beloved sound while tackling familiar themes.
Directed by Alan Hildebrandt, the accompanying video for “Midnight Twilight” features animation by Hildebrant and Studio del Scorpio and follows the band and a collection of “nightlife characters” in the midst of self-destructive narcissism and hedonism, as an escape from the bleakness of modern life. Feels familiar doesn’t it?
