Gothtober - DESIRE : "Games People Play"

 

This Canadian duo is getting a bit of a buzz as being goth, and I am not hearing it in the first few songs, though they are implementing goth adjacent genres like synth wave into what they do. There is a lo-fi vibe that does not match the budget of their videos. Vocally, the detached vocals are kind of boring, making it sound like a French pop version of Lana Del Rey. The title track was the first song I heard from these guys, and I waited the entire song for it to go somewhere. Which seems to be their thing, as "Darkside" which opens the album, does not really go anywhere either. 

"Dangerous Drug" has more of a groove. There is a little more effort in the singing. The problem with this being called dark wave is that it is jsut not dark. Maybe darker than Chappell Roan, but that is not saying much. They lean into more of the disco side, and then there is a little girl narrating the song. "Human Nature: finds elements of witchhouse like pop music being set against the more synth wave influence pop. Vocally, it shows the most promise, but there is nothing dark wave about it. 

I think a great deal lies in the rep of Johnny Jewel from Chromatics and Glass Candy, who is the obvious creative force behind this project. "Dream Girl" is like 80s house music. Synths are the heartbeat of "Sometimes". Retro hipster disco wave would be a more fitting sub-genre. "Vampire" is put together better, though not her best vocal performance; in fact, it's quite boring. To be about vampires, it is not dark enough.  "The Judge" feels like it was written by AI. The '80s bootyshaking feel is the best thing about it."Drama Queen" finds the mood heading in the right direction, because she is pretty hot so they need to really pour the sex on if they are going to sell this. 

"Love Races On" bounces along the more upbeat side of synth wave with her typical detached indie pop vocal approach. "Cold as Ice" is a little less focused and wanders in its own ambiance, lacking a clear groove. The French sung "Reflexion" meanders in its ambiance and never locks in. They cover Taylor Dane's "Tell It To My Heart" and dial back the intensity. The video for I Know might have swayed me in favor of the song, making me think it was one of the album's breast pieces. "Love Theme" is almsot an interlude as it floats in its ambiance with no clear direction. 

They get a little darker for "Demons in the Rain," though it could use a beat to give it more motion, as it also hovers over its own shadow. "Othello" proves how important a good beat is when it comes to the songs having more of a backbone, even if it was just an interlude.  "Love On the Air" makes a little more effort in this regard. I will give this album an 8, it works for what it is, and I think if it got sex'ed up rather than the depressed indifference, the vibes would click, definitely not a dark wave album.

pst500