Album Reviews: Mayflower Madame ‘Insight’ and The Cure ‘Songs Of A Lost World’

By coincidence (or perhaps not given that it was Halloween weekend), the most eagerly-anticipated releases of 2024, by both original wave and current wave post-punk artists, were released simultaneously recently, with The Cure’s Songs Of A Lost World and Mayflower Madame’s Insight coming out on the same day.

Both bands’ genial frontmen had been affected by bereavement in the preparation of their respective new albums, with Robert Smith grieving over the passing of his brother and his parents, with Trond Fagernes and his partner trying to come to terms with the devastating tragic stillbirth of their daughter Marion, to whom Insight is dedicated. 

Insight opens with a beautiful and understated tribute to Marion, a wonderful lullaby lament where Fagernes wistfully reflects on how things might have been (“For all she could have been, For all she should have been”), the song’s title (Ocean of Bitterness) hinting not only at the depth and breadth of anger which the author must feel at being cheated out of the opportunity to see and experience his cherished daughter growing up, but also of the sublime melodic melancholy dark light psychgaze soundscapes with which his musical project has become synonymous. The song’s simple, syncopated gothic riff is played on an acoustic guitar, reflecting the muted and sombre lyrical tone, and is a model of efficiency, weighing in at less than three minutes, a perfect start to an album which is once again a very rewarding if at times emotionally challenging listen.

This contrasts significantly with Alone, the opener of The Cure’s LP, where the bloated, repetitive and strangely disjointed (from a production perspective, with the various instruments failing to gel properly) lugubrious instrumental intro builds for well over three minutes before the familiar pained Robert Smith vocal is heard for the first time.

Smith spoke in a recent interview about the difficulties he has faced in penning lyrics for the many soundscapes/works-in-progress which he has composed over the past decade, which may explain the lengthy and occasionally tedious introductions to many of the Songs Of A Lost World, with album closer (and undoubted highlight) Endsong already over the six minute mark by the time Smith first exercises his trademark tonsils.

The epic song durations, funereal pace and introspective lyrical content have inevitably but deservedly drawn contrasts with past gloomy classic albums like Faith and Disintegration, as opposed to more upbeat Cure hits like Lovecats and Friday, I’m In Love, and the difference between Songs Of A Lost World and its ‘immediate’ predecessor could not be more striking.

2008’s 4:13 Dream’s set of thirteen quirky, mostly short, raw and often energetically inventive songs found little favour amongst critics and fans alike (peaking at a dismal 33 in the UK album charts, for example), whereas the eight more immediate and familiar tracks of Songs Of A Lost World saw the LP go straight to the top of the UK album chart amidst heightened media interest and critical acclaim.

Smith may have struggled for inspiration for subject matter for the album, finally writing mainly about suddenly finding himself alienated and in an older generation (“I’m outside in the dark, wondering how I got so old”, “I know that my world is grown old”, “My weary dance with age” etc), a theme his sibling’s untimely demise (chronicled in the touching I Can Never Say Goodbye) may have highlighted, and one which (given their age demographic) many long-term fans of the band will find appealing, but the album also seems somewhat devoid of truly genuine musical creativity: many of the crowd-pleasing tracks have the same slightly prog-rock overextended and self-indulgent feel, with the soothing, unchallenging and cosy familiarity of, say, Pachelbel’s Canon, slow-burning and rather stodgy MOR epics seemingly designed to be played comfortably on stage by the ageing band in their legendarily overlong gigs. On the one occasion when the tempo is switched up, on Drone:Nodrone, both the bouncy, “baggy” beat (in the style of EMF’s Unbelievable) and debutant Reeves Gabrels’ much-criticised wah-wah riffs (too intrusive for the more conservative longterm fans, apparently) are strikingly retro and highly reminiscent of 1990’s standalone single Never Enough.

The turgid and uninspired arrangements which often bedevil Songs Of A Lost World are all the more apparent when contrasted with the intricate, intriguing and inventive song structures on Mayflower Madame’s Insight. The stunning interplay between guitar (Rune Overby), bass (Fagernes himself) and synths (Kenneth Eknes), and the shuffling motorik drumbeat (Ola J. Kyrkjeeide) make for a refreshing yet intense mix, topped with Fagernes’ low-key but angst-ridden vocal. 

On the previous two albums issued during the Norwegian project’s decade-plus history (Observed In A Dream and Prepared For A Nightmare), the lyrical focus had been on the darker places to which the mind wanders during the moments between sleep and consciousness, a time now sadly and understandably also haunted for Fagernes by a very sharp and agonising sense of loss, an inevitably omnipresent if often unspoken factor throughout the album, which is at its most harrowing and poignant in the downbeat closer Insight For The Mourning Hours.

Sonically, part in thanks to the sharp mixing and mastering skills of Maurizio Baggio (best-known for his groundbreaking work with the late, lamented The Soft Moon), Fagernes’ songs retain from the projects’s first two albums the dreamy, cinematic grandeur with underlying emotional turmoil of Echo and The Bunnymen’s masterpiece Ocean Rain, with at turns elements of lo-fi, shoegaze and dark psych to add some thrilling spice to the already potent musical mix and retain the listener’s full attention.

The trademark Mayflower Madame sound is showcased to particularly good effect on the album’s original pair of teaser tracks, A Foretold Ecstasy and Paint It All In Blue, which had understandably ramped up expectations prior to Insight’s release. Whilst there isn’t a bad track on the album, to be pedantically critical, there is arguably an overall lack of variety of pace in Insight’s internal dynamics. Nevertheless, the new LP stands not only as a fitting and emotional tribute to a much-loved and much-missed daughter, but as a modern masterpiece of the ever-evolving post-punk genre, demonstrating a daring blend of subtlety, vigour and ingenuity that were, ironically, once The Cure’s stock-in-trade. 

Whilst Songs Of A Lost World would in some ways serve as a generically appropriate finale for The Cure’s stellar career, one can only hope that Smith delivers on the hint that it is in fact the first of a trilogy of individually very different albums, and that the subsequent instalments will deviate from the pleasant but over-safe palette of sounds demonstrated on the new release. 

Mayflower Madame’s album is available via Bandcamp here

The Cure’s album is available here

Live Review: Divine Shade and Bootblacks at Bannermans, Edinburgh, Wednesday 23rd October 2024

 Yet another great night of darkwave music in the vault at the legendary Bannermans venue, thanks to a typically inspired pairing of acts from the synth end of the modern goth market by Flag Promotions, bringing Brooklynites Bootblacks and French band, Divine Shade to the heart of Scotland’s capital for the first night of a UK tour.

Playing Edinburgh for the first time ever, despite having released their first (split-)single almost 15 years ago, Bootblacks took some time to fully hit their stride as the opening act on this co-headlining tour. Whether it was the preponderance of slower songs in the first half of the set, the slightly disappointing crowd size, with fewer than expected numbers of Numanoids (Divine Shade had successfully supported the seminal synthwave icon in the city two years ago) supplementing the hardcore of ‘elder goth’ capital gig regulars, or the extremely cramped stage conditions which restricted the usual infectiously energetic physical performance of band mainstays, vocalist Panther Almqvist and synth maestro /electronic percussionist Barrett Hiatt, it was only when the band switched to more dancefloor friendly songs that the evening really came alive.

Guitarist Kalle Fagerberg’s mournful dark twang embellishments significantly enhance what could otherwise be more generic coldwave fare, and choice up-tempo cuts (like Travelling Light, Decoys, and Hold & Dissolve) from the band’s three albums to date soon have the audience dancing as the band finally settle into their stride. Tracks with a harder EBM backbeat like recent single When You Want raise the temperature further, with Panther removing his mic stand to enable him to prowl the front of the stage more effectively in his impressive silver shoes, and there is sustained applause at the end of set-closer and fellow recent single Forbidden Flames, further whetting the appetite for the forthcoming fourth Bootblacks album.

                                                          (short video of the intro to Forbidden Flames) 

Curiously, Divine Shade have yet to release an album at all, a full decade on from their debut EP, although a nine track LP Fragments is due before the end of the year, but nevertheless their fame has deservedly spread impressively in recent years. Although mainman Ren Toner wasn’t even born when monoliths of industrial post-punk such as Pretty Hate Machine, Psalm 69 and TV Sky were released, since discovering the genre initially via The Matrix soundtrack he has distilled its essential elements to create a potent modern sub-branch of the musical style, which is particularly effective in the live setting thanks to the incorporation of live drums (now courtesy of Max) and his brother Nico’s versatile guitar riffs, in a genre where pushing a button on a machine is often one of the main elements of a supposedly live performance.

As a singer Ren is equally adept at crooning a verse as he is at bellowing a chorus, and strapping on a second guitar or playing synth gives his songs a welcome diversity, as does his switching from French to English from song to song. Beginning with unrecorded cuts Hate and Oblivion and Ruines et Cendres, Divine Shade up the pace with From The Sky from the debut EP, from a time when there was an overt angular Numanesque element to their sound.

 Numan may himself offered the band their big break in 2022 with that UK tour slot, but he is far from the only respected scene figure twice Ren’s age to be impressed by his youthful talent, with The Mission also taking the project under their wing as support on this autumn’s French/Spanish mini-tour, industrial legend (ex-NIN and MM) Chris Vrenna remixing singles Stars and Ashes, both of which receive a rapturous reception at Bannermans, and esteemed scene guitarist Steve Fox-Harris (Gary Numan band, ex-Fields of the Nephilim) collaborating with the band on last year’s single Oublier, which in the live context combines the raw power of vintage The Young Gods with the sensitivity of Ren’s understated vocal. 

                                                             (short video of the ending of Oublier)

Max’s frenetic tubthumping lights the touchpaper for a coruscating rendition of most recent single Heaven, a manic brainfreeze of a song that makes The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die sound like a nursery rhyme in comparison. A faultless set ends with the almost balladesque Show Me The Way, and the band clearly hadn’t anticipated the enthusiastic reception they received as they appeared unprepared for the defeaning chanted demands for “one more tune!”, but after some discussion they treated the sweaty throng to a stunning rendition of Éternel from 2020’s In The Dust EP by way of an impromptu encore.

After this triumphant opening night, the tour moves on Newcastle before further stops in Glasgow, London, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol, so do yourself a favour and for less than the price of a CD catch this double bill of excellent bands on a rare visit to these shores.

The Best New Goth/Post-Punk Releases of Summer/Autumn 2024

 

If 2023 saw the goth/post-punk scene dominated by stellar releases by US acts (Ashes Fallen, The Bellwether Syndicate, A Cloud of Ravens, Vazum etc) and the first half of this year saw attention turn to albums from the trailblazers of the contemporary European scene (Then Comes Silence, They Die, Whispering Sons et al), the summer and autumn have seen a welcome reflourishing of the British scene, the traditional homeland of the evergreen (or should that be ‘everblack’) dark genres.

In this latest round-up of exceptional new sounds, the focus is exclusively on projects which are either UK-based or have a strong connection to the islands, where the closeknit goth community keeps the flickering flame alive.

Black Angel - Elektra

Black Angel main man Matt Vowles grew up in Bristol in the midst of the mid-80’s age d’or of British gothic rock, with the likes of The Cult, The Sisters of Mercy and The Damned providing the basic sonic template for his own project, now incredibly already onto its sixth album. Black Angel’s polished and melodic approach is key to their instantly recognisable sound, based around Vowles’ own distinctive shimmering guitar work and the standout understated velvety croon of vocalist Corey Landis, and whilst there is a cosy familiarity to their music, with each successive album Vowles has further tweaked the original film noir  blueprint. On Elektra, he has added an Eastern edge to the dynamic, evidenced in the intro to opening track Serpents’ Kiss (not that one!) and in the main section of the title track, which nods to Led Zep’s Kashmir, a key influence on those first gen goth bands moving into rockier waters. The addition of a second, more vulnerable backing vocal (provided by Saira) - in addition to Maneesha Jones’ more powerful counterpoint - allows the sound to diversify further, whilst maintaining the consistent quality of both production and earworm choruses of previous releases. If first wave bangers like This Corrosion and She Sells Sanctuary are your thing, Elektra will take you there and beyond.

Bandcamp link

IST IST - Light A Bigger Fire

There has been no shortage of bands influenced by the post-punk Manchester sounds of Joy Division and The Chameleons this century, with the likes of Editors and Interpol enjoying considerable commercial success a couple of decades back with their largely derivative sound. Whilst the latter acts ultimately failed to make the next step to true megastardom due a lack of memorable melodies in their dark and at times dreary sonic appeal, the same charge could not be levelled at English band IST IST on Light A Bigger Fire. The Mancunians’ fourth album is a wonderfully subtle set of beautifully-crafted songs which will hopefully propel them to a bigger mainstream audience similar to that of their 80’s and 00’s predecessors from the earlier waves, now that they have added a New Order pop sensibility to the doleful JD charm of their earliest releases, placing them in the same ‘potential breakout from the post-punk ghetto’ category as Actors and Je T’Aime, for example. Whilst Adam Houghton’s front-of-the-mouth vocal inevitably draws comparisons with Editors’ Tom Smith amongst others, the increased use of synths enables IST IST to add extra layers to their sound and transcend tired comparisons on what is clearly one of the strongest albums of the year, where virtually every track deserves to be a single. The track featured here (Something Else) is not amongst the three songs accorded that accolade so far.

Bandcamp link

Light Of Eternity - Edge of Fate EP

The untimely passing of Geordie Walker towards the end of 2023 has cast a huge shadow over the goth/post-punk scene, not least for his fellow Killing Joke band members, including iconic sticksman Big Paul Ferguson, whose side project Light of Eternity have now released their debut EP. This recording began life the summer before the legendary guitarist’s passing, and Walker himself would surely have been impressed by both the huge wall of sound created by Light of Eternity and particularly by the powerful guitar work of creative lead Paul Williams (of UK punk band Chaos 8). The opening barrage of the titular track Edge of Fate sets the tone, with a huge KJ influence in both Williams’ guitar chops and Ferguson’s muscular tubthumping but further enhanced by the versatile vocals of American Fred Schreck, who lent his tonsils equally effectively to The Psychedelic Furs’ John Ashton’s Satellite Paradiso project a decade ago (an album to which Paul Ferguson also contributed). Schreck’s vocal soars above the surging punk’n’roll of second track Explode which has the drive and energy of classic The Offspring, whilst the slower Lament goes off at a more classic rock ballad tangent, albeit with a sting in the tail in the chorus. The highlight of the EP however is closing track Tipping Point, driven relentlessly onwards but a chugging riff and Big Paul’s thunderous beat, with a fabulously melodic vocal from Schreck and shades of Geordie in Pauly W’s fretwork, not least at around 5.15 in with the S.O.36-style arpeggios. This unexpected treat has been released as a (now sold out) limited edition white label vinyl 10” EP with the promise of more music to follow… 

Bandcamp link

Byronic Sex & Exile - Attacking The Sun

Indefatigably prolific UK goth national treasure Joel Heyes managed to squeeze a further extended EP in between his previous release reviewed here mere months ago and this, his latest album. The familiar elements of a simple yet solid backing of keyboards and Gilmouresque guitar over a driving bass and drum-machine beat dominate the opening tracks Nothing But Lead and Thief of Fire, before things get more interesting with the darker and more rhythmic She Slept On Dynamite with its more subtle vocal. Whilst the drum-free To Be Done With The Judgement Of God has the traditional soliloquy feel of the quieter tracks of previous BS&E releases, the Lucretia groove of Clara looks set to become one of the project’s signature tracks, potentially even eclipsing Your Name On The Wind. Heyes is back at the piano for the excellent stark and doomy ballad The Vampire’s Castle, delivering a superb vocal performance in his inimitable ‘Wessie’ baritone croon. The second half of the album is a mix of primarily spoken word pieces (penned by anarchist poets Enzo Martucci and Diane di Prima, as well as works by the more traditional goth/lit icons Baudelaire and Goethe - BS&E releases have always included a key educational element) and slow-burning tracks like Sister Guillotine, Zarathustra and Waiting For Another War where Dark Creation Mastering’s excellent post-production is very much in evidence on what is another high quality and varied album from Yorkshire’s own one-man goth revival.

Bandcamp link

The March Violets - Crocodile Promises

It’s rare for a new release by a first generation goth band to create a similar stir to that generated by albums by newer artists, but in Crocodile Promises The March Violets deliver an album which adds a twenty-first century vibe to their signature early 80’s sound. Whilst as expected Rosie Garland is in imperious vocal form throughout, the sheer invention and versatility of Tom Ashton’s guitar work (aided and abetted by Mat Thorpe with some very juicy basslines) is what makes this album stand out from the crowd. The dark twang riff of lead track Hammer The Last Nail may reveal that the now-Athens (Georgia) resident has not been immune to local influences, the angular riffs over the driving beat of second track Bite The Hand have the energy and freshness of the band’s earliest Merciful Releases, as do the off-kilter funk-punk of  Virgin Sheep, the powerful Kraken Awakens, the metronomic spacey post-punk of Heading For The Fire and the syncopated charm of closer This Way Out. The only flaw is a mid-album lull around the reprise of Mortality and the subsequent half-speed World Away From Kind, the former a reminder of the elephant in the room (the absence of founder member Si Denbigh on co-vocals) and the latter a throwback to the first wave’s Cleo-era dark pop nadir), but overall the Violets deliver a frenetic album which successfully updates their unique blueprint.

Bandcamp link

Rosetta Stone - Under The Weather

Like most of the artists on this shortlist, Porl King’s current iteration of the legendary goth act Rosetta Stone has its own unique sound identifiable from the opening seconds of any track, with the title track from the latest album a typical case in point. Far closer in sound to King’s vastly underrated (and lyrically misanthropic) noughties project Miserylab than that of their late 80’s/early 90’s heyday, Rosetta Stone retain Madame Razor’s metronomic beat and the pulsing basslines, but now supplemented by a staccato reverb guitar tone and King’s deadpan delivery of lyrics berating modern humanity for its ongoing unwillingness to face up to the dystopian reality and its responsibilities. The juxtaposition of the utterly depressing lyrical content and the strangely uplifting vibe of the hypnotic backing remains addictively appealing if a little repetitive, given that this is the third successive album based on an identical sonic palette. Closing track Change, with its Vega/krautrock backbeat and a driving sound not dissimilar to the Sisters’ Train is the highlight and hopefully hints at a more innovative musical future.

Bandcamp link

Ground Nero - Blood Never Sleeps

Although strictly not a new release (the songs had been available as a download since shortly before Christmas), this summer’s physical release of Ground Nero’s latest album Blood Never Sleeps has shone a welcome light on a fantastically strong set of songs featuring the Manx/Belgian band’s signature ‘gothic wall-of-sound’, the first of their releases to feature the dulcet baritone of Mark E Moon’s Mark Sayle. Each track is based around a solid beat, Peter Philtjens’ pulsing basslines, Peter Smeets’ exquisitely layered and subtly constructed guitar and synth soundscapes and Sayles’ wondrously sonorous delivery, enabling Ground Nero to prove that modern goth can build on the past without slavishly copying the original wave’s shibboleths. From the smouldering Stars to the incendiary The Furnace, this is another album where virtually every track could, and indeed has, been released as a (video)single, from a band now also establishing themselves on the live scene again.

Bandcamp link