Lost the halo of hype that surrounded them a few years ago, especially at the time of that riot of nostalgia eighties updated to the new millennium that was “Love Comes Close” (2009), Cold Cave stubbornly continues to follow their path, paved with dark and glacial sounds, which refer to the dark side of the glorious synth-pop era.
“Passion Depression” comes out three years after “Fate In Seven Lessons” and consolidates this new “concentrated” attitude (only 8 songs, one more than its predecessor) on the part of the band, which would now be the first to call it a duo, given that it has consolidated around the figure of the leader Wesley Eisold (recently also busy with the tour for the twentieth anniversary of American Nightmare, his historic hardcore band) and his partner Amy Lee, who has been his companion for years, as well as videomakerphotographer and performer.
The sound system of “Passion Depression” is a fusion of heavy synths and martial electronic rhythms, enriched by a layering of elements typical of industrial and coldwave of yesteryear. The rhythmic sequences often follow minimal and obsessive patterns, evoking an atmosphere of urban alienation that harks back to mid-80s Berlin, with echoes of Nitzer Ebb and DAF, but updated to the more modern sound language distilled by Cold Cave for the dancefloor of the year two thousand. The production is meticulous: the electronic basses and synths are full-bodied and enveloping, with long and deep reverbs and a spatialization of sounds, which highlights Wesley Eisold's deep and often filtered singing, with its serious, desolate and alienated tone.
All quite pleasant but not transcendental and least of all original. Between blatant homages to the Sisters Of Mercy (the initial “She Reigns Down” with a catacomb-like Eisold in the Eldritch version) and to Depeche Mode (the synth-pop in noir of “Blackberries” and “Siren Song”), winks to New Order (“Hourglass”) and remodulations of Cure and Joy Division (“Everlasting”), Cold Cave keep their sonic coordinates clear, but without ever emancipating themselves from them, except perhaps in the more pressing Ebm of the final “Octavia”, with i vocals sinuous by Amy Lee: an interesting episode, which however remains only a sketchy point.
That mess of dirt lo-figarage roughness, groove and synthetic 80's soul that characterized them at the beginning seems to have now normalized in a sound more conventional, with only a few meager vibrations to recall the most epic moments. A testimony of honesty and coherence, which however cannot make one dream.
29/10/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
