Vandal Moon has always had a penchant for melancholy. With sad post-punk guitars and glittering synths, the California-based duo Blake Voss and Jeremy Einsiedler have further explored the clandestine corridors of darkwave music with their newest track “Hurt”. Often compared to the flirty side of The Cure or the pop-friendly iteration of Gary Numan, Vandal Moon achieves the elegance of a perfect synth song. In preparation for the new album Black Kiss out on May 15th, the single “Hurt” is just the first chapter in a tragic love story. Voss explains:
“This is our first concept album. It’s the futuristic love story of two androids escaping enslavement and they have to do some unthinkable things to find that freedom. I won’t give too much of the story away, but it’s thematically a corollary about living life as a cog in a dystopian culture. So, this album functions as a concept record, but also as a personal expression of dread.”
Black Kiss, produced by Maurizio Baggio (Soft Moon, Boy Harsher, Holygram), will feature contributions from synthwave legend FM Attack, and electro-pop duo New Spell. In these times we need a form of escape – and Vandal Moon provides it. Listen to “Hurt” below:
