Given that my formative musical days, that learning curve which informed my lifelong tastes and sonic attitudes were formed at a time when the analog world was being rocked by the new digital technologies that were rushing in, this new double A-side (remember those?) from Hollow Shift feels both like an echo of the past and music made at today’s cutting edge.
As the searing guitars and busy beats of “Electric Gloom” kick things off, there is still a sense of futurism that powered those early darkwave pioneers, who are obviously an inspiration. And that is the difference between making music that still fires with forward momentum and that which feels like it is just riding the coattails of what has gone before. It’s the difference between purpose and nostalgia. And Hollow Shift makes music with vital purpose, urgency, momentum, and relevance. Standing on the shoulders of giants, they may be, but it is a great place to see what the future is going to look like.
It’s sonic travelling companion, “Fire and Smoke,” is perhaps even more driven, those manic dance beats and brooding, relentlessly rhythmic bass lines a force unto themselves, even before the guitars come scything and soaring in, and Jessica Bell’s cool and crisp vocals dance deftly over the top. Great stuff!
Such music, that bridges the realms of dance and darkwave, the analogue and digital worlds, rich in synth soundscaping and soaring sonics, has been with us for a long time; I have the record collection to prove it. Hollow Shift is the sound of that music continuing to move with the times – no backward glances, just eyes fixed firmly on the future. And it sounds like the future is in safe hands.
Website
X
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
