Thursday 17 July 2014

Obligatory Record Of The Day! Schonwald - Rays

Single review by KevW


If you're a fan of musical waves then it's your lucky day. This new single from Italian duo Schonwald comes tagged as "new wave", "darkwave", "cold wave" and even "postwave", and to be honest, we're not even sure what postwave is, but if it's this then it sounds rather good. Oh, and 'Rays' is released on the Anywave record label, just to make sure we get the message. Although the pair might not be instantly recognisable to many people, they released their debut album back in 2009, so they've been around for a while and have picked up press and gigged all around Europe. You could call them stars of the European underground, but they perhaps deserve better than that.

It just so happens that all those descriptive waves are fitting ways to label this track; 'Rays' is dark and it is cold with a slightly industrial feel to it. Paradoxically, the song contains many overlapping elements yet has a minimalist vibe, almost as if Suicide have teamed up with Sisters Of Mercy and recruited a female singer to provide vocals that come across as being distant, just poking their way through the fog of synths and the incessant beat. This creates another paradox as they're at once cold and bereft of feeling, but oddly emotive somehow. Schonwald are the kind of duo that would have been at the crossroads where goth met shoegaze and barren electronica. It's not a unique position on paper, but given the way that they effortlessly cover so much ground and different feelings it does set them apart. We hope this track does see them finally making some different kind of waves and gaining wider recognition. It's something they deserve.





Schonwald's website

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