Browsing Tag

darkwave

Dead Air Romance: Steps from the Cliff Summoned Downtempo Darkwave Seduction from Santa Cruz Storm Rituals

Posted on 10 June 2026

With their ability to make droning electronica feel primally hymnal and set your spine in a deep freeze, Steps from the Cliff are arcane outliers in the sphere of downtempo darkwave electronica. Their latest single, Dead Air Romance, carries all of the seduction you would expect from the title, while any dystopian tints in the production are smoothed over by the non-lexical harmonies that drape soul-sourced accordance across the tableau of downtempo techno, industrial and synthwave.

It resounds like it should be reverberating across the images of a Clive Barker horror film; temptation, melancholy and friction oscillate right past the synths and static-singed beats, giving full emotional range to the monochrome sonic spectre of desire. There is a severe elegance to the way the track moves, allowing its darker textures to feel ritualistic rather than merely atmospheric.

Formed in Santa Cruz during the violent January storms of 2023, Steps from the Cliff began as Tim Knapp’s response to the precarious border between peril and possibility. That origin story bleeds into Dead Air Romance, where coastal unrest, introspection and storm-season ritual are channelled into a release that feels intimately abyssal.

Dead Air Romance is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fourth Heaven’s darkwave industrial metal spell ‘Mercy’ burns with ritual, rust and revelation

Posted on 2 May 2026

The shadows of darkwave drench the mechanised tendrils of alt-metal in the standout industrial single, Mercy, from Fourth Heaven’s Eclipse EP. Through antagonised with pure adrenaline drums, guitars that have been pushed through enough distortion that you can practically hear rusted sparks glowing like embers as they rise into the atmosphere of the production, Mercy is a barrage of kinetic intensity.

As alchemists of genre fluidity, Fourth Heaven flirt with the expansive elemental violence of metalcore while keeping the aesthetics reverently anchored in the gothic glamour of darkwave industrial through the ethereally feral and unflinching vocal stretches.

Mercy moves like ritual and rupture in the same breath, with the percussion driving forward like a threat and a summons while the guitars tear open the air with corroded intensity. There are shades of Lacuna Coil in the vocals, early Evanescence in the cinematic drama, and the harsher edge of industrial pioneers, allowing Fourth Heaven to chart a brand-new intersection through alt-metal, one that is built around transmutation, turning exposure into force and fracture into something near-mythic.

That tension runs through the wider world of the Milan-based project, where the thematically emblematic figure of the Priestess acts as both shield and revelation, ritualising vulnerability and turning personal pain into collective catharsis. Eclipse captures that threshold where identity slips into shadow and deeper consciousness begins to awaken.

Mercy is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bushwick Princess – Dead/Basic: A Darkwave Synth-Pop Sanctuary for Those on the Edge of Acceptability

Posted on 27 April 2026

Darkwave synth pop got its swagger back in the enigmatic single and debut music video, Dead/Basic by the alt-indie trio, Bushwick Princess, who may not hide their influences, in this case, it’s a mash-up of Thriller-era Michael Jackson and Depeche Mode, but originality still slithers from the single, which gyrates through the shadows of 80s pop and the strobe lights of electronic post-punk.

As an earworm guaranteed to give you hard enough kinetic kicks you’ll be left with bruises, Bushwick Princess, with their deadpan debonair panache, left nothing to be desired. There’s no trace of irony in the mantra “I’d rather be dead than basic”, which could be read as pretentious, but those in the know will resonate with the refrain that highlights the insufferable nature of a world which rejects culture and individuality for hegemony.

It’s the kind of single you could imagine Joe Keery releasing, if he were daring enough to be contrarian in a bid to comfort the other disturbed outliers looking for anthems to dance to on the edge of acceptability; the cinematic music video is effortlessly in that vein. Just don’t ask where they got that coffin.

Based in Brooklyn and led by Matt Francini, Bushwick Princess is setting Dead/Basic up as the opening statement from an EP due later this year, channelling a love for indie dance and post-punk through a sound that also tips its hat to LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip. If you’re tired of banal and superficial alt-electronica, you’ll want to save a space on your radar for the forthcoming hits from Bushwick Princess, who have more than earned their royal status with their debauched approach to adding a touch of class to the airwaves.

Dead/Basic is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Glimtvis – Turn I Wish I Was in Love: a Pantheon of Passion and 80s Synth Pop Sincerity

Posted on 6 April 2026

The darkwave synthesis of post-punk, melodic rock and synth pop, I Wish I Was in Love, from Glimtvis became the ultimate way to fill the void of passion. For three minutes, throbbing synth lines, oscillations of alchemy, and harmonic swells thick with nostalgic sincerity move through the production, pulling you into a pantheon of passion. Glimtvis, the Danish duo of Rikke Egholm Ravn and Rasmus Pedersen, have built their name on songs that sit in the unruly meeting point between shameless pop, raw rock expression and painfully honest songwriting, and that emotional candour allows this release to reach the pinnacle of affecting.

The chameleonic production shifts through eras as it grapples with stylistic influence, but the thematic core of tenderly hopeful longing remains the catalyst behind the spark of every motif. There’s the same cinematic intensity as Soundgarden, the sticky-sweet sensibility of Simple Minds, and renderings of rock that resound in the vein of Lenny Kravitz, yet Glimtvis keep the track rooted in their own vocal chemistry and melodic instinct for atmosphere. Having written together since 2020, toured extensively across Denmark, Germany and the US, and picked up international recognition along the way, the duo has made light work of the ‘up-and-coming’ era of their career. They’ve definitely arrived.

I Wish I Was in Love is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

FS 1220 – Outer Limits: Expansively Horizonless Alt-Electronica

Posted on 17 March 2026
FS 1220

Under the moniker FS 1220, James B. Boggs reached the ‘Outer Limits‘ of alt-electronica with his latest full-length LP, a release that proves how far textural experimentation can go when it is in the hands of someone who treats sound as both a tactile substance and a portal.

In each cut, Boggs positions himself as an alchemist of scintillation; each track behaves like a different facet of the same expanding universe. You can meditate in the chill of the cosmos, feel basslines buzzsaw their way through iridescent twilight dioramas, or lock into the hedonic gravity of the faster-tempo work, where darkness gets dragged into filthy decadence until it writhes with after-hours pulse. Across all sixteen tracks, it becomes irrefutable that FS 1220 knows exactly how to take the reins of your rhythmic impulses and turn you into a marionette puppet, tugged through all his horizon-less intersections of alt-electronica.

What anchors the LP is the reverence for old-school analogue synths; they root the record in a lineage of darkwave descendants without tethering it to a nostalgic crutch. Futurism is always allowed to cut in, especially when the sci-fi sonorosity meets the illumination of contemporary production.

Boggs’ decades of underground sonic work culminate here, including his legacy across Hoodwink Records, EMF affiliations, and a labyrinth of aliases that feed directly into the depth of the production. The LP feels forged by someone who has lived inside the circuitry of his machines.

Outer Limits is now available to stream.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Puppies & a Demon conjured a Jungian tempest of distortion and existential light in ‘Void’

Posted on 4 January 2026

Puppies & a Demon found the perfect sonic vessel for existential catharsis in their latest single, Void. The Jungian fever-dream of darkwave alt-rock and post-punk sees apathy examined through grungy, garagey guitar tones that buckle and warp under the weight of distortion. Rather than dwelling in piteous malaise, the track celebrates how certain figures can permeate the darkness and deliver anchors of luminosity.

As post-punk revivalism continues to oversaturate the alternative music landscape, Puppies & a Demon are asserting why intelligent architects of sound are still vital in 2026. Void doesn’t flinch from philosophical enquiry — it steps into it headfirst, thrashing and clawing with a bruised-lip hymn that grapples with the fragile boundary between inner light and shadow. The official music video only deepens the impact, bringing as much visual panache as conceptual weight, which bleeds from the lyrics.

Rather than offering another shallow swipe at love, Void digs into the trenches of existential salvation through affection. Via their visceral yet cerebral songwriting, Puppies & a Demon continue to uphold their ethos: to explore the duality of nature, where lullabies can bleed and demons can weep. Their music exists in contradiction; the tender breath of vulnerability wrapped in the primal howl of unrelenting truth.

Void is now available on all major streaming platforms. For the ultimate experience, stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JeezJesus fed industrial corrosion through darkwave defiance in ‘I See You’

Posted on 24 November 2025

JeezJesus cast no illusions in his latest single, I See You, a politically incensed darkwave hymn for the disillusioned. The London-based multimedia artist, formerly known for his work with VALA and The Peace Pipers, invites listeners to where the echoes of early industrial pioneers are dragged through modern malaise. Like a transmission of a distress signal, he exposes every last fracture in society’s surface and offers a place to purge the repressed rage of existing under its suffocating systems. This track marks the final single ahead of his upcoming fourth album Somewhere Between Love & Misery, and the weight behind it leaves little question as to why it was chosen to close the chapter.

The corrosive synths churn like they’ve been caught in acid rain, fizzing under the strain of a system too bloated to fix itself. As they grind and whine, they’re met with slow, dark, drawled vocals, standing somewhere between the nihilism of Public Image Limited and the melancholy fervour of Bauhaus. While there’s a clear nod to Throbbing Gristle’s confrontational sonics, the percussion slaps with a distinctly NIN-shaped hand, pushing the sound beyond nostalgic homage into something fiercely current.

Written from the centre of discontent, I See You is a declaration of mutual recognition with the unheard. As the title loops, it becomes less of a refrain and more of a mantra for those watching the decline, powerless but far from oblivious. It’s a statement of presence, resistance, and furious witness, which may not change the course of history, but it holds a mirror to the decay of morality, capturing it in a diorama of disillusionment.

I See You is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 
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Review by Amelia Vandergast

Steps from the Cliff channelled cinematic dread into synth minimalism with SUSURROS

Posted on 6 November 2025
Steps from the Cliff

Steps from the Cliff drew grandeur out of shadows and wove it into synth-pop with their latest single, SUSURROS. Released from the creative sanctum of Tim Knapp’s storm-swept Santa Cruz residence, the instrumental score unravels with the haunted elegance of an artist whose compositions go straight for the psyche’s jugular.

Grandeur isn’t often something that’s closely related with synth pop, but after Steps from the Cliff released SUSURROS, that’s all set to change. With an intro which almost feels as though Carpenter’s Halloween theme has moved into a sphere of spectrally macabre disquietness, the score unfolds and reveals Steps from the Cliff as a composer who knows exactly how to go for your psyche’s jugular. The dark, quasi-carnivalesque instrumental piece becomes the ultimate soundtrack of the kind of terror that leaves you uneasy while sating even the most ravenous desire for artistic poise.

Since forming in 2023, Tim Knapp has taken a ritualistic approach to composition, crafting his soundscapes during Californian storms, channelling the unease and awe of nature into chilling cinematic downtempo releases. With one album, four EPs, and multiple singles under his belt, he’s fast cementing his place in the darker recesses of synth-pop and darkwave. From his vantage point above West Cliff Drive, he continues to write the soundtrack to the metaphorical cliffs we all stand before.

Follow Steps from the Cliff on Spotify and Instagram to stay up to date with news of the release.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

My Life as a Moth turned post-punk into a shadow-drenched rite of sonic intoxication in Hyenas

Posted on 5 November 2025

Fans of PINS, Portishead, She Drew the Gun, Lydia Lunch, and PJ Harvey will instantly be arrested by the cinematically spectral force behind the moniker, My Life as a Moth. In her latest single, Hyenas, the priestess of post-punk turns tempo into a sonic tease, poetry into a spiritual confession booth, and vocals into an alchemic elixir capable of instant intoxication. There’s no hangover when the track ends, only the compulsion to dig deeper into her darkly avant-garde discography.

Through syncopated beats and an atmospherically moody signature sound, she demonstrates how to deliver luxuriant release through shadowed, trip-hopped catharsis. Every beat lands like a ritual drum, and each breathy murmur swells into a beckoning, inviting listeners to succumb to the sacred thrill of discomfort. Hyenas strips back the ornamental and plunges straight into gothic machinations that chew up and spit out pastiche, replacing hollow gestures with visceral sensation.

The sharp wit and originality embedded in her artistic DNA have already secured attention from BBC Radio Wales, Absolute Radio, and Clout, but Hyenas is the track that will truly fixate those attuned to the pulse of alternative music’s darker undercurrent. Renowned for her striking vocal delivery and ability to disturb the comfortable while comforting the disturbed, My Life as a Moth continues to carve out her corner in the post-industrial ether, wielding lyrics like bones and ambience like incense smoke.

Hyenas is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Judas Kiss Struck a Gothic Match with Their Rock-Licked Darkwave Debut ‘The Eternal Flame (Burning Bright)’

Posted on 17 October 2025

If Florence Welch lent the firepower of her vocal cords to darkwave-drenched post-punk that hums with the same ominous charge as Sisters of Mercy’s most shadowy sonic spectres, the result would sound a lot like The Eternal Flame (Burning Bright) by The Judas Kiss. The Newcastle collective summoned a cinematic storm on the opening single from their debut LP The Mirror Crack’d, where moody synth stabs, snarling basslines, and caustic guitar solos circle around commanding vocals that teeter between seduction and menace. The sincerity might be stylised, but it thrums through every bar, turning the track into a gothic prayer for the lost and the restless.

Formed out of the ashes of Newcastle’s underground scene in 2021 by Steve “Mel” Melaney, who channelled his two decades of session work and production into building an immersive one-man soundscape before expanding into a full band, The Judas Kiss have built a reputation for crafting soundscapes that feel more like ritual than rock. Their music weaves themes of faith, horror, temptation, and urban decay into shimmering chorus-drenched guitars, cathedral-sized drums, and lyrical confessionals that cut close to the bone. With BBC Introducing already giving The Eternal Flame (Burning Bright) its first spin and industry interest gathering pace, The Judas Kiss are poised to etch their name into the annals of goth-rock history with an album that promises to burn just as intensely.

The Eternal Flame (Burning Bright) is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast