Darkwave: a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics, and have been perceived as being dark, romantic, and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow.
Pass/Ages are a duo, Caitlin Grimalkin and Jonn Gauntletier, from Vero Beach, Florida. They’re a darkwave band, drawing upon all kinds of late 70s and early 80s influences to create dark and shadowy synth pop. Their debut full-length, Taken Underneath, has recently been released by Katuktu Records.
Opener ‘As It Rises’ sets the scene, building from mean-sounding fuzzy guitar and the hollow pulse of percussion, thick with a sense of morbidly romantic ruin. But for all the nostalgic reference points, Pass/Ages are making music for the here and now. The ominous, apocalyptic atmosphere isn’t concerned with blast radius and toxic fallout but rather rising sea levels, the irresistible advance of all-engulfing water.
Buildings collapse, rivers rise up
against the city walls
the ocean roars with laughter as
she wipes the slate clean
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‘Possession’ is a ghost story, the narrator welcoming another spirit into their body, while the title track is lush and dramatic, containing just one repeated line that again captures a sense of futility. “When the tide pulls in,” they say, “I am taken underneath.” ‘How Much Did You Take?’ has a thumping bass line and floating ice-cool vocals, while ‘When the Sky Ignites’ sounds harsh and fractured, synth pop for a sub-zero Cold War concrete wasteland, now left to gather weeds and ivy.
Named after the meadows of the Greek underworld, ‘Asphodel’ continues this stark and ominous feel, while ‘Cavalcade’ feels murky and spacious, Grimalkin’s dramatic lyrics delivered with a soul-sucked dead-eyed calmness.
But you mistook their cold eyes for starlight,
And you mistook their breath for the wind,
And you mistook their skeletal limbs
For the branches of the trees
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Finale ‘Materialize Me’ finishes things off with one last blast of off-centre synth pop, delivered first person from the perspective of some malignant being. “I live on the edges,” Grimalkin sings, “the breath and the mist, the space in between,” and the enveloping sound has you believing every word.
Taken Underneath is out now on cassette via Katuktu Collective.
