I remember the gothic and post-punk, for want of better terms, bands of my youth being far more style than substance in that most of it looked and sounded alluring and exotic but had little to say. There were exceptions, but for every Sisters of Mercy holding a microscope up to the human condition, we had a dozen Fields of the Nephilim’s writing about ancient gods, apocalyptic gunslingers, and the like. I like a good H.P. Lovecraft story as much as the next person, but it always felt like a missed opportunity, lyrically speaking.
Which is why I admire The Sea at Midnight’s ability to make beguiling music that also has something to say. Following on from their recent single, “Burning,” we find ourselves immersed in a similar theme, perhaps the most pertinent and poignant one of recent generations: global warming, climate issues, and the changing, maybe even life-on-earth-changing, future it offers.
And to backtrack for a moment, perhaps gothic isn’t the correct term for a band like The Sea at Midnight, although there is undoubtedly a dark and cool streak running through their music. Their blends of raw guitar and shimmering electronica, danceable grooves, and alt-clubland anthemics remind us that before the boys (mostly) with the guitars took over the post-punk/gothic landscape, it was full of ex-punks rewiring keyboards and inventing everything from New Romanticism to darkwave, synth-pop to new wave. The Sea at Midnight contains more than an echo of that scene before it went overground and the money men moved in.
But call it what you will. All that matters is here, we find a band making alluring and original music and saying something important, timely, and vital while doing so.
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