“Fuck the fucking ceiling”.
This is how Erin Hoagg, aka Rare DM, summarizes the attitude of “Attention”, her second work. Darkwave has a limit – she says – and it doesn't want to stop before it has gone beyond that limit. Imposed by who or imposed by what we cannot imagine, but Rare DM is too pop to be confined to a genre and too performative to be considered goth-adjacent. In this album desire is intertwined with obsession, electroclash, minimal wave and Ebm coordinates are taken until they are pushed further, onto the dancefloor of an imaginary club seen through a distorted reflection.
Seven years after his debut “Vanta Black”, Rare DM returns with a product that retains the confessional intimacy of his early days but considerably broadens his range of action. If the debut was often immersed in an almost cosmic melancholy, “Attention” appears more physical, more ironic and above all more aware of its own performative dimension. It doesn't sound like an invitation, but it sounds just like a command. Equipped with a rare elegance that is both vintage and futuristic – as if Laurie Anderson had decided to produce an album for Crystal Castles (with her voice often whispered, sometimes spoken, sometimes shouted but always magnetic, which moves sinuously on very lovely carpets of synth),
Rare DM has often said she feels limited by genre labels and the album seems to prove her right. Sure, you may recognize echoes of Boy Harsher, Goldfrapp, John Maus or the more refined minimal tradition, but Rare DM uses these coordinates as starting points to go beyond that ceiling.
Each song has its own tactile identity. The emotional peak probably comes with “Skater Hits Me Harder”, one of the best passages of the entire album. Minimal arpeggios, apparently simple synthetic lines, the piece manages to generate a highly perceptible form of melancholy. It's one of those pieces where a few elements manage to suggest much more than they actually show.
“Attention” is an album that works above all thanks to the more experimental songs, while the more conventional ones (those that come closest to traditional synth-pop) remain less incisive than the more daring ones.
What makes Rare DM's second album truly compelling is its ability to move between pop accessibility and fascination underground without sacrificing either aspect.
01/07/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
