You can call it Darkwave, you can call it post-Punk, but just for you, I’ll keep it simple. It’s 1980’s synth pop influenced. Now you have that lodged in the mind (because it’s all you need to avoid the ridiculous notion of inventing a new genre because you need to feel superior), this is Hallows debut E.P ‘Subtle’.
If you’ve read anything I have written before, or not, in a nutshell I am tired of endless genre titling. So, I tend to latch anything to the closest sound it garners the most. Why do people who are checking out something new, need to be confused from the beginning. No, this is exactly what you expect it to be, with what I suggested at the start.
I’m no expert in this form of music. No, I don’t care for Gary Newman or Sisters of Mercy or whatever happened in the 1980’s pop-synth scene. Whether it be a one hit wonder, they were only not worthy in their period (thinking OMD) or just folk dressed in black being all bleak and waiting for heroin, not for me. But I am undeterred when it comes to new music and listening to something new, and I do not hate this at all.
‘Subtle’ has a fine blend of gloom and harmony. What I have found that with a few listens is it does hold you very well. Bleak can be very dismissive, but this does hold tone very well. The two vocals offerings from Dom and Vanee intertwine. There’s peaks, delves and twists that really combine to a striking E.P I have enjoyed. Their best work comes in ‘In a Sleeping Void’ and last track ‘Far Too Gone’. The longest offerings are by far the standout pieces, which always is a positive that they can work well with time and not stretch it out, making it mundane.
I liked this. Gave me this odd notion, suggesting it’s (to myself, remember, we’re never going outside again) like Crystal Castles, but for adults.
Hallows: Subtle EP – Out Now (Phage Tapes)
