Originally formed in Tresco, the second biggest island of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, UK, an island famously known as “The Island of Lost Souls,” and now currently based in Richmond, UK, the self-described psychedelic, garage noir duo West Wickhams — Jon Othello and Elle Flores — have a name that’s an imagined rival gang name to British punk style icons The Bromley Contingent, a group who followed Sex Pistols and whose style was largely influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music. 

Their overall aesthetic is influenced by a wide range of goth and horror sources including the work of Mary Shelley, Whitby Abbey, Edgar Allan Poe, Andy Warhol, abstract painting, film noir and more. 

Earlier this year, the duo released their debut EP Consider Her Way, which featured EP title track “Consider Her Way,” a brooding bit of goth-leaning post-punk centered around angular, reverb and delay-drenched guitars and a motorik groove that sonically sounded informed by The Cure and Cocteau Twins.

Released last month, the British duo’s second EP of the year Magenta is informed by the color. “Magenta is the colour of universal harmony and emotional balance,” the duo explain. “It contains the passion, power and energy of red, restrained by the introspection and quiet energy of violet. It promotes compassion, kindness and cooperation. The colour magenta is a color of cheerfulness, happiness, contentment and appreciation.”

Magenta‘s second and latest single, the “This is a Hang Up” continues a run of nostalgia-inducing, goth-leaning, post punk rooted in shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars and driving rhythms paired with ethereal vocals buried into the mix. Sonically, “This is a Hang Up” seems like a slick synthesis of The Cure and New Order, complete with a dance floor friendly hook.

The accompanying video is derived from edited footage from the B-film The Planet of the Vampires.