Since the summer, The Pixel Rain has, through a series of tantalising singles, left a trail of sonic breadcrumbs like a post-punk Hansel and his gothic Gretel towards this release. But unlike those poor children, despite the provocative title, A Sense of Danger does feel like coming home, especially if you grew up in the fading shadow of punk, as I did.
Blending the sonics of the gothic darkness with the washed soundscapes of early post-punk synth pioneers, ‘Sacrifice,’ which opens, blends the serene with the sinister, drama with delicacy, melody with muscle. And on such juxtapositions, such creative contrasts, on such attractive opposites, the band’s sound is built.
‘All The Lovers’ is a gorgeous array of bubbling synths and pulsing basslines, a collision of beat and almost ambient washes, but ambient washes layered up so cleverly, so densely that even such ephemera takes on actual sonic weight. The result is a song that is formed of so many conflicting and complementary textures that it becomes kaleidoscopic, hypnotic, beguiling.
The title track is slow, glacial even, and as awe-inspiring as such a feature suggests; ‘Piece of Love’ indicates that the band hold bands like Depeche Mode close to their heart, that same balancing act of underground cool and the commercially viable playing out before our ears and ‘All Night Long’ rounds things off with a more gentle, more sentimental sound.
Tease is all very well; it’s part of the marketing process, but it counts for nothing if you don’t deliver on that promise. A Sense of Danger is the sound of The Pixel Rain over-delivering. If the singles suggested something good was on its way, what we actually got was pretty damn great.
