To be honest, I wasn’t a huge Molchat Doma fan. I could hang with a few songs, enough to oblige the frequent requests at clubs, but their albums just didn’t really resonate with me. Then, last Friday, I gave Belaya Polosa a listen and immediately bought it on Bandcamp. Molchat Doma’s fourth album is their best so far.
But, I’ve been hesitant to write about the album because even AP has done that, on account of Molchat Doma’s now four-year-old TikTok hit, and there’s a digital stack of music that I’ve been meaning to write about, but haven’t. So, I’ll just try to squeeze as much as possible about all of it here.
As for Belaya Polosa, it’s what I affectionately call Molchat Doma’s Depeche Mode album. The title track, as well as “Son” and “Ne Vdvoem,” have that Spaghetti Western score-meets-sinewy ‘90s club beat that’s extreme 90s Modieness. “Ya Tak Ustal,” my personal favorite, is more along the lines of “Master and Servant,” with its crack-the-whip rhythm. But, it’s not all Depeche Mode references on here. Another favorite of mine, “III,” is a straight-up synthwave track and I’m really curious about how that song came together. (BTW, probably the best, current Molchat Doma article you can read is this short Q/A over at Synth History. The reference to Dark Side of the Moon makes so much sense because there’s this undercurrent of prog rock in what the band does.)
Get Molchat Doma Belaya Polosa on Bandcamp
Where the influence of Depeche Mode is strong on Molchat Doma’s latest album, Ploho has an immediate Cure vibe on their new album. I know that may, on the surface, sound like I’m reaching for the lowest hanging darkwave and post-punk references, but just listen to the album and tell me that the guitars and bass don’t remind you of the interplay between Robert Smith and Simon Gallup. I can’t be the only one listened to this song and immediately thought of “Play for Today.”
What I appreciate most about is the atmosphere that Ploho creates. Because I have no idea what’s in the lyrics, and can’t read the track listing, I tune into the sonic details. I love how it sounds as if the wind is howling through opening track and the way the synth melody resembles the song of a music box or carousel on this cover tune, which is also includes the distant ring of placing a phone call. I’m also drawn to how the band balances dark and light sounds on the two songs I’m considering for club play. This is a terrific album and, outside of the press releases, I haven’t seen anything written about it. Although, there is an interview with singer Viktor Uzhakov in a recent story about Russian musicians in exile that is worth the read.
(Just an FYI, I had to edit out all the references to song and album titles because this site is displaying non-Latin characters as question marks and I can’t find a good fix for that yet.)
Last month, Shannon Hemmett, of Actors, released the debut full-length for her solo project, Leathers. Songs from Ultraviolet have been trickling out onto the web since the release of her EP, Reckless, back in 2021, but having the chance to sit down and listen to the full collection as a whole adds a new dimension to the music. I sat in on the Bandcamp listening party in August and asked specifically about “Highrise,” which is a song that resonated a lot with me. (Yes, it’s a reference to the J.G. Ballard novel and also to the amount of high rise buildings in Vancouver.) I love the song’s lyrics, “You live in a high rise/No birds or butterflies/Live beyond your means/Like you always dreamed/In a room painted gallery white.” It’s so descriptive and delivered with a hint of snark, reminding me of Kittin in songs like “Frank Sinatra” and “Madame Hollywood” or Ladytron in “Seventeen.” I think some of the cultural commentary on tracks like “Highrise” and “Daydream Trash” becomes more clear when listening to the full-length.
Get Leathers Ultraviolet on Bandcamp
At the end of August, Fontaines D.C. dropped their fourth album, Romance, but, considering that the band’s upcoming show at the Palladium is sold out, you probably know that. The album has gotten a lot of press and I have to say that I agree with The Guardian that this is the band’s best album so far. The energy here is incredible, you can feel it in the gasps on “Starburster,” the breathless melody of “Here’s the Thing” and the jangle of “Favourite.”
Get Fontaines D.C. Romance on Bandcamp
On the singles front, Future Islands, who play The Shrine next week, recently dropped a non-album single, “Glimpse,” that I prefer to anything on People Who Aren’t There Anymore, which I wrote about earlier this year. “Glimpse” has a heavy darkwave vibe with the eerie synth melody and ‘80s bounce of a beat. I’m looking forward to playing this at the clubs soon. Meanwhile, “Roseland,” the title track on Soft Kill’s new three-song EP, sounds like it could be a KROQ flashback from the heyday of bands like The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen and Psychedelic Furs.
Get “Glimpse” by Future Islands on Bandcamp
Get “Roseland” by Soft Kill on Bandcamp
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.
Keep Reading:
GET TRIPLE FIRE, THE NEW ALBUM FROM GENEVA JACUZZI, NOW
STRANGEWAYS AT THE SMITHS/MORRISSEY CONVENTION
THIS BELGIAN COVER OF “VAMOS A LA PLAYA” SOUNDS LIKE EARLY ’80S LOS ANGELES
[:]