Tag: dark wave

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Femme Co-Founder Marlon Magnée Returns with Broodingly Cinematic “People Are Afraid”

Marlon Magnée, the co-founder of the acclaimed, French psych outfit and JOVM mainstay act La Femme is stepping out in the spotlight as a solo artist with his debut solo album, the Renaud Letang co-produced Dark Star, which is slated for a March 6, 2026 release through Disque Pointu.

As a member of La Femme, Magnée has earned numerous accolades including Album Révélation of the Year at the Victories de la Musique Awards and multiple RIAA Certified Gold records. He has played sets on some of the world’s biggest and most important stages, including Accor Hotel Arena, Zénith, Glastonbury, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Osheaga. 

After 15 years recording, releasing music and touring the world as a member of La Femme, Magnée’s solo debut reportedly sees the La Femme co-founder reconnecting to his earliest passions. The album reflects his long-held taste for unusual blends and singular styles — with lyrics sung in both French and English.

The result is a breakneck, restless, sometimes radical music, conceived “for those with blood in their hearts and the urge to fight back.” 

Recorded at Paris‘ legendary Ferber Studios, Dark Star is an oddball, frenzied collision of shadow and light with songs that wrestle with one’s darkest impulses, bad mushroom trips, ayahuasca-fueled revelations, limerence, overwhelming romantic love, family love and self-sabotage. Sonically, the album draws from 60s guitars, an “orgy of synths” from the 80s, pounding drum machines, analog delays and a deliberately raw energy, that sees the La Femme co-founder blending punk rockabilly, punk and coldwave. 

Late last year, I wrote about album single “Plus Fort Que Toi.” which featured a  J.F. Julian-directed accompanying video that playfully drew from 50s rockabilly and rock tropes shot in sunny California.

Dark Star‘s third and latest single “People Are Afraid” is a broodingly cinematic take on 80s darkwave, anchored around an eerily atmospheric motorik pulse and skittering goth-inspired beats, a scorching guitar solo and Magnèe’s long-held, unerring knack for catchy hooks. According to the La Femme co-founder, “People Are Afraid” was inspired by The Stranglers, although I hear a bit of Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan and Trans Europe Express-era Kraftwerk.

Directed by Magnée and filmed in Tokyo by Sam Quealy, the accompanying video for “People Are Afraid” follows a Dick Tracy/spy-like Magnée strutting down the quiet and lonely late night streets and in a phone booth. But there’s more than meets the eye here. The La Femme co-founder has some secret super powers.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Low Blows Shares Brooding and Forceful “Vacio”

Barcelona-based trio Low Blows — Carlos Vergara (vocals, bass), Andrés Silgado (guitar) and Rubén Carballo (drums) — quickly established a sound that draws from post-punk, industrial, New Wave and darkwave with electric elements and a hint of shoegaze with their full-length debut, 2020’s Cruel.

The Spanish post-punk outfit followed Cruel’s release with a handful of singles, including last year’s Matteo Vallicelli-produced “Go!” The trio also played at OMBRA Festival.

Building upon a growing profile, the trio just released their sophomore, self-titled studio album. The album showcases a new creative phase by the Spanish trio, marked by greater restraint, sonic clarity and artistic cohesion with material that sees the band effortlessly blending post punk and darkwave paired with introspective lyrics. And it’s all anchored by a tension between rawness and sensitivity.

The band says that their sophomore album was conceived as an exercise in reaffirming identity and a point of synthesis between their previous path and a more defined, conscious vision of their artistic present.

The sophomore album’s lead single “Vacio” is a brooding and forceful bit of post-punk featuring an insistent rhythmic pulse and fuzzy guitars paired with an angular, New Order-like bass line, bursts of shimmering synths. While sounding as though it could be a part of the Dedstrange Records catalog — and as though it could have been released during 4AD Records heyday.

“Vacio,” as the band explains works as a statement of intent. “The song explores feelings of absence, disconnection and emotional exhaustion through a direct, no-frills approach. Musically, it leans into a cleaner, more minimalist production with an insistent rhythmic pulse and an enveloping atmosphere that carries the track’s emotional weight,” the band says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Italy’s Coldtrace Shares Broodingly Atmospheric “Reasons 1”

Coldtrace is a mysterious and emerging Italian post punk band, who released their debut EP, Shadows last month.

Shadows EP‘s latest single “Reasons 1” is a brooding bit of post punk, featuring angular and propulsive bass line, relentless four-on-the-floor, shimmering, bursts of reverb-soaked guitars paired with a dramatic baritone vocal. While showcasing the band’s ability to pair chilly atmospherics with razor sharp hooks, “Reasons 1” seemingly channels the likes of Cocteau Twins, Molchat Doma and others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dream Bodies Shares Shimmering, Brooding, and Dance Floor Friendly “Circle of Light”

Steven Fleet is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, poet, writer and artist, who has been in several music projects that have allowed him to play shows across the US, the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. He is also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Dream Bodies. With Dream Bodies, Fleet crafts “witchy, dreamy, gothy, post punk, dream pop, cold wave with poetic, philosophical lyrics.” 

The Los Angeles-based artist’s recently Dream Bodies debut EP, Circle of Light features the previously released “Dream Hangover,” and the EP’s latest single, EP title track “Circle of Light,” a dance floor friendly bit of post punk/coldwave featuring skittering beats, squiggling, reverb-drenched guitars and broodingly atmospheric synths serving as a dark yet lush bed for Fleet’s sonorous baritone.

Fleet explains that the song’s lyrics focus on occult themes, and a liminal space between light and darkness, life and death. This new single, along with its predecessor helps introduce Fleet’s mystical, occult oeuvre.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Velatine Teams Up with Nocturna on Brooding and Cinematic “Till Death We Do Art”

Melbourne-based songwriter and producer Loki Lockwood is the creative mastermind behind the darkwave/goth recording project Velatine, which sees him crafting a unique and fresh take on a familiar and beloved sound. In fact, with Velatine, Lockwood is unafraid to experiment and works with different vocalists while weaving aspects from goth, Darkwave, post-punk and industrial music.

His latest single “Till Death We Do Art” feat. Nocturna is a slow-burning, and brooding bit of goth-tinged post punk which features Nocturna’s Anika-meet-Nico-like delivery paired with layers of eerie synths, bursts of strummed guitar and cinematic strings. “Till Death Do We Art” may arguably be the most cinematic-leaning post punk song I’ve heard in sometime, while showcasing Lockwood’s penchant for catchy and anthemic hooks.

Lockwood explains that “Till Death We Do Art” is for the creatives of the world, focusing on the highs and lows creative endure while following their muses. He adds that the song is dedicated to a Ukrainian painter named Ksenia, who regularly shared Velatine’s music with posts featuring her art on Instagram before the project was on the platform. He got to know her a little through the site, but because he’s an Australian, who is often far from any sort of violent conflict, it was the first time he knew someone living in the middle of war.

“Having that ever present threat as part of your life, disruption to normality, what we take for granted here and the devastation of losing her lover I found her often in my thoughts. If I didn’t see her post, I’d check to see if she was alive.” He adds that song was largely written before all of this but the chorus wasn’t there. One time, he checked in on Ksenia on Instagram and her instagram tag “Till Death We Do Art” jumped out of him. He was convinced that was the missing piece that summed up the emotion of the song. ” I’d read these words before on her page but this time I saw them in a new light, I knew immediately where they also belonged. Everything fell into place and the last lines, “we’re upset by war, and worry for them all” are for her,” he explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Freddi Rituali Shares Brooding and Icy “Giulia che balla”

Formed back in 2023, Italian synth pop/coldwave duo Freddi Rituali — Diego Ballani (vocals) and Marco Tosetti (guitar, synths, programming) — features two, grizzled Italian scene veterans: After spending 20 years in Italian power pop outfit Made, Ballani and Tosetti decided to start a music project largely inspired by 80s British synth pop, Italian New Wave groups like Diaframma and Germany’s CCCP, as well as contemporaries like JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots and acclaimed Belarusians Molchat Doma. 

Last year, the duo released their self-titled debut EP and the EP featured the Flock of Seagulls-like “Per ridere di te,” which saw the Italian duo pairing glistening and icy synth arpeggios, mathematically precise, skittering beats with angular bursts of shimmering, reverb-soaked guitar, catchy hooks and Ballani’s earnest, emotive delivery.

In fact, for Anglophones, “Per ridere de ti,” may open up an alternate pop universe that sounds intimately familiar yet alien — but as infectious and as danceable as ever.

The duo began their 2025 with the release of a small batch of standalone singles that includes their latest single “Guilia che balla,” a brooding bit of minimalist coldwave featuring Ballani’s plaintive vocals singing introspective and Romantic lyrics over an icy synth soundscape that brings Molchat Doma and others to mind.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Laurent Squarta Shares John Carpenter Soundtrack-Like “The Dark Wave of The Blob”

Laurent Squarta is a Toulon, France-born multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, who like countless young folks across the globe, became obsessed with music around the time he turned 13. His earliest musical loves were Depeche Mode, The Cure and New Wave.

When he turned 16, he became more rebellious and developed an interest in skateboarding and skateboarding culture, as well as harder music, like Metallica, Megadeth and Sepultura.

Hypnotized by these sounds, Squarta desperately wanted to make his own music. Earning money from small jobs, he brought a guitar and an amp — and with two friends, he started a punk rock band called ElectroGene. He also took lessons at Bordeaux’s Rock School Barbey, where he planed to play with other bands at small, local shows.

Back in 2012, following an installation in Rochefort, France, Squarta set up a music studio next to his house. He had received training in recording techniques and music production software, while becoming obsessed with the sonic possibilities offered by synthesizers. He brought new gear and found his sound inching closer to John Carpenter and the Stranger Things soundtrack.

After a few years of experimenting with his sound and approach and some rather strange personal experiences, the French artist gradually landed on Darkwave, seemingly inspired by horror and sci-fi films. Over the last handful of years, Squarta has reached out to horror movie critic YouTubers and short filmmakers to collaborator on soundtrack work.

His latest single is a song inspired by 1988’s Kurt Russell-starring The Blob. And fittingly, the eerie and brooding John Carpenter-like soundtrack-like “The Dark Wave of The Blob” features industrial clang and clatter, glistening synth oscillations, a relentless motorik groove and a blazing guitar line. The song perfectly compliments the accompanying edited film footage.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Sweet Kill Shares Brooding and Anthemic “Forbidden”

Pete Mills is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and creative mastermind behind the solo recording project The Sweet Kill. With The Sweet Kill, Mills focuses on the darker and goth side of post-punk.

Constantly recording and producing material at his own studio, Shadow Zone Sound, Mills wrote The Sweet Kill debut album Darkness with the expressed intention to inspire those lost in the shadows of life. Anchored around cold wave-like synths, post-punk drums, atmospheric guitar and melodic bass, the album’s material channels Editors, Fontaines DC, Joy Division and others while thematically exploring the the soul’s journey between two worlds, asking the question: Are we eternally floating in the ether? Or are we never lost and always found?

“Forbidden,” Nowhere‘s latest single is a brooding and anthemic bit of post punk anchored around glistening and angular guitar tones, swaggering and thunderous beats, a propulsive and melodic bass line and enormous hooks and choruses and an atmospheric, acoustic guitar-driven bridge. The arrangement and production serves as a lush, arena rock friendly bed for Mills plaintive baritone. And while sonically seeming to channel White Lies, Editors, Interpol and others, “Forbidden” tackles love, longing and loss through some Romantic tropes and a lived-in specificity.

Directed by Ellen Hawk and shot in a gorgeous, cinematic black and white, features protagonists, who are outcasts and whose love for each other is fiery and passionate yet forbidden. They’re led to a secret world, which is both an escape and exile, and where they can be both consumed by their love. Sounds like an Edgar Allan Poe story doesn’t it?

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Seattle’s Ghost Fetish Shares Brooding, Dance Floor Friendly “C’mon”

With the release of last year’s full-length debut, Almost Touching, Seattle-based post-punk outfit Ghost Fetish quickly established a dance floor friendly sound that draws from New Wave, synth pop and goth in a fashion that’s uniquely theirs.

The album’s latest single “C’mon” is a brooding bit of darkwave/chillwave/post-punk featuring icy synth arpeggios, skittering beats parried with a relentless and propulsive groove and a vocal delivery that reminds me a bit of Whispering Sons while being dance floor friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pill Couple Share An Anthemic Banger

Pill Couple is a Vietnamese-based electronic duo, with members who grew up in the US and Russia, who have been friends since school. The duo’s sound sees them experimenting and meshing different genres and styles including dream pop, dark wave, synth wave, psychedelia and hip-hop rooted in melodicism, emotive vocals and heart-worn-on-sleeve lyrics that thematically focuses on sorrow and hope.

The duo’s latest single “Violetize” is a slickly produced bit of synthwave/darkwave featuring buzzing synth oscillations, glistening synths, industrial clang and clatter, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and Nik’s expressive delivery paired with rousingly anthemic hooks and chorus. The result is a song that pairs pop craft with modern production and earnest lyrics.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

California-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Justin Chamberlain is the creative mastermind behind the rising dark wave recording project SOFT VEIN. Chamberlain emerged into the national and international dark wave scenes with two singles last year — “GIVEUPTHEGHOST” and “VIOLENTIA,” which saw him quickly establish a sound that has been compared favorably to the likes of Selofan, Panther Modern, Boy Harsher, Mareux, Twin Tribes, and others.

Building upon the attention he amassed with this first two singles, as well as a string of live shows, the California-based artist will be releasing his highly-anticipated full-length debut, PRESSED IN GLASS through Arttoffact Records on October 20, 2023. Entirely written and recorded by Chamberlain, the album’s material reportedly blends a variety of influences including cold, wave, industrial, modern dark wave and EBM. Sounding urgent, visceral and dangerous, the album’s material frequently features icy and brooding vocals over minimalist drum machines, metallic percussion, menacing bass synth lines and atmospheric synths to evoke “flashing, grainy pictures of desperation lust, and even love, in the dark.”

PRESSED IN GLASS‘ second and latest single, “LEASH” is a club friendly dark wave bop that seems indebted to John Carpenter soundtracks and early Depeche Mode with the song being built around a relentless motorik-like pulse, thumping industrial-like beats serving as a icy bed for Chamberlain’s plaintive delivery. The result is a song that manages to be simultaneously brooding and uneasy yet full of yearning.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Golem Dance Cult Shares Brooding and Anthemic “21 Century Dogs”

Split between France and England, the emerging, self-described “industrial heavy rock dance” duo Golem Dance Cult features longtime friends and experienced musicians: producer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Charles Why, who has played in Lotsa Noise, Nexus and L-Dopa and vocalist Laur, who has played in Sparkling Bombs, Kevin K Band, Vague Scare and Other-ed. The pair’s latest project can trace its origins back to when they were teenagers, playing in the first band together, a band in which Laur played drums.

During most of the band’s short run together, the pair have written and worked on material remotely, as a result of pandemic-related restrictions and distance. Their work in Golem Dance Cult is structured around a couple of simple, agreed-upon parameters:

  • They had to work spontaneously, with each member following their instincts.

  • Mistakes should be expanded upon.

The duo eventually settled on a rock-inspired approach with electronic production but without holding to the formal structure — or strictures — of either genre.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year or so, you might recall that the duo released their debut EP 2021’s Grotesque Radio, an effort that featured the Bauhaus-like “Nosferatu Waltz,” a goth/horror track with a playful nod to Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. 

The duo’s full-length debut, Legend of the Bleeding Heart was released earlier this year. The album’s latest single “21st Century Dogs” sounds like a glammy, Bowie-like take on Bauhaus built around their penchant for enormous, arena rock like hooks and hours. The song is written and sung from the perspective of a dog and fittingly both the song and video ifeautres references and allusions from Luis Buñuel’s Le Chien Andalou and George Cheesbro’s Wolf Blood: A Tale of the Forest. But by doing so, the song and video explores people’s darkest, most feral impulses and desires.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Stefan Certic Shares Atmospheric “Human”

Stefan Certic is a Serbian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and producer. His latest single “Human” featuring Steve Sims is a brooding and atmospheric bit of 80s-inspired synth pop featuring glistening synths melodies paired with shimmering strummed guitar, deep bass lines and sparse yet propulsive beats. While nodding at OMD and Eurythmics, “Human” is a remarkably cinematic track with melancholy and reflective lyrics discussing the human condition in a deeply lived-in fashion.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: VERTÈBRE Shares Goth-like “T’as Du Voulour La Mort”

Ron Kring is a Rennes, France-based singer/songwriter and creative mastermind behind the emerging French electro rock/cold wave recording project VERTÈBRE. With collaborator and producer Zach Spectre, King released VERTÈBRE’s 2020 self-titled, full-length debut, which she quickly followed up with standalone single “Hungry” and a remix of “Last trip, baby.”

During pandemic-enforced lockdown, Kring experimented with video directing and editing and released a handful of music videos on YouTube. By 2021, the Rennes-based singer/songwriter had began writing what would be her sophomore album. She enlisted She-Wolf‘s Marie-Claude Martine to mix the album and her friend, Ivan Muńoz, an acclaimed Chilean electronic music artist and DJ best known as Vigilante to master the album. Much like her previously released material, the writing process begins with synth sounds that presses particular emotional buttons. She then goes on to build the framework of a song to release the energy within. Then she adds guitar and bass when the song calls for it. “VERTÈBRE is more in the cold wave/post punk genre. Some tracks are rather danceable and can sound electro pop rock. Others would be more dark wave. In any case, I think that a good dose of unease and anger remains present even when the song tries to defend itself against it. I like that the songs are never completely happy or completely sad. It must be said that in life nothing is ever gained but… that all is not lost either,” Ron Kring says.

The sophomore album’s first three singles “Basic instincts,” “I Can’t You Can,” and “Maniac Mansion” were released through the digital stream platforms and feature homemade accompanying videos.

At the end of last year, Kring decided to continue VERTÈBRE without Zach Spectre. She recruits bassist Julien Marien, and along with a guitarist, they’re currently working on their live show. But in the meantime, the sophomore album’s fourth and latest single “T’as dû couloir la mort,” is a goth-like take on post punk built around tweeter and woofer rattling 808s that would make Rick Rubin proud, glistening synth oscillations, Kring’s forceful delivery paired with arena rock level bombast. The end result is a song that sonically seems to mesh Depeche Mode and Ministry.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Distance H Teams Up with Saigon Blue Rain’s Ophelia on Brooding “Bitch 16”

Distance H is a post-punk/darkwave/coldwave recording project of French producer ManuH. The project sees ManuH collaborating with an eclectic array of female vocalists, who contribute melodies and lyrics.

Released earlier this year, the brooding and cinematic “Bitch 16.” sees ManuH collaborating with Saigon Blue Rain‘s Ophelia on a Cocteau Twins-meets-Sixousie and the Banshees-like song rooted in eerie atmospherics and razor sharp hooks.

Directed and edited by Anaïs Novembre, the accompanying video for “Bitch 16” is split between gorgeous and broodingly lit footage of the collaborators in studio, and Saigon Blue Rains Opehila dancing in a creepy, goth-like forest.