Red Painted Red – all new to this listener but may be a duo based in Manchester UK, S. Carroll and Yew, producing work since 2007 and appearing on labels SSG and Wrotycz Records in Poland.
Today’s item That Was The Reason Why (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 304-2) is also on a Polish label, and like Wrotycz it’s an imprint that does lean towards the “dark ambient” portion of the spectrum. Carroll and Yew are actually producing electropop -mode songs however, rather than occluded inward-looking dronery, and each of these ten tunes have a strong compositional bent that allows us to perceive, through half-closed lids, their evolution out of Depeche Mode or Yazoo, if those combos had taken a darker and more eccentric turn instead of aiming their bazookas at pop chart success. The singing half of the act might not have the most distinctive golden tonsils in the North West of England, but she can whisper with enchantment when the mystical themes demand it, or punch home the rhythms with feisty emphasis and no-means-no styled chants or recits. As to the latter, you can hear her unique take on the song-speech mode of expression on ‘Silence’, where even the casual listener will soon feel “schooled” after every line of her sharp delivery. The instrumental half of the act is likewise inventive and sportive, always devising new ways of saying how many beans make five, and they’re gifted with a light touch on the jet-black organ of the supernatural.
With sparing foreign effects, voice samples, oblique and touching lyrics, this is a well-crafted set of jaunty semi-Goth constructions; even the cover illo (by Puppy 38) has the same touch of whimsicality that’s about to spill over into something rather more sinister. From 23rd October 2023.