We enthusiastically reviewed a release from Melbourne band Night Terrors late last year – describing it as beautiful, haunting and gothic. Now, one of their members, Miles Brown, has released a solo single entitled ‘Apparition’ and it is a joy to experience. There’s a cold front moving through south eastern Australia, and you can wear your overcoats and Docs with impunity while listening to this chilling delight.
The gothic influences are there again, and I cannot help but be reminded of some of the pioneers of more experimental synth pop from the late seventies and early eighties – Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, early Ultravox and John Foxx – mixed in with a bit of Bauhaus gloom and the pop sensibility of Depeche Mode.
There’s a vibrant pounding spine that kicks in with an overlay of spiky synths and, Brown’s speciality, a wailing theremin solo. A quote from It Records perfectly sums this up – ‘killer horror disco’. It’s dark and foreboding at yet at the same time strangely uplifting and enervating. Listening to this on headphones: it’s an aural treat with many layers and tones throbbing through your head in a disturbingly satisfying way:
This single is from Brown’s debut solo album ‘Seance Fiction’ to be co-released between Melbourne’s It records and Death Waltz Originals, part of Death Waltz Recording Company.
You can get the single fom here. If you were lucky enough to be in Melbourne last week, Brown launched the single at New Guernica, but there will be hopefully more live stuff to come for those of us late to the party.
