'Darkly Near'
Athan Maroulis should
need no introduction. However if you are unfamiliar with the man, his
associated projects Spahn Ranch and Black Tape For A Blue girl should
be some indication of the prowess of his back catalogue. Now he
returns with Noir, a project which blends the gothic and industrial
elements of his past with filtered through a retro-futurist
conceptual view of New York City. The end result is a dark mix of
minimalistic electro-goth and beat-driven futurepop.
The opening track (and
lead single), 'My Dear', sounds like a stripped-back take on 'Beat
Noir' era Spahn Ranch with its compulsive beat and dance floor pace
make this simply a must have track. 'The Grifter' is a little more
layered with more vocals and synths building throughout the mix, but
again it keeps that nice dance pace for an upbeat counter balance to
the dark melodies. The first of the covers on the album, Maroulis'
take on The Cure's 'A Forest' is simply divine, transforming the
morose pop of the original into decadently dark electro hinting at
the atmosphere of albums like 'The Coiled One'. Whereas 'The Voyeurs'
ventures into the dark cabaret of Black Tape For A Blue Girl with
it's sombre lead and reverb drenched vocals.
The synth-driven and
beat-free formula formula of 'The Voyeurs' is then carried over into
'The Tragics', which blends the likes of David Bowie's 'Warszawa' and
Wendy Carlos' soundtrack for 'A Clockwork Orange'. However,
'Timephase' brings the album back into more dance friendly waters
with its filthy bass grove. The penultimate track, 'The Satin Box',
is simply an excellent dark pop song which, despite it's
straightforward style, is very addictive. The album then finishes off
on a cover of 'Roxy Music's 'In Every Dream Home A Heartache', which
until now was definitively done justice to by Rozz Williams, however
Maroulis still manages to wrestle out some originality of this gloomy
glam favourite.
'Darkly Near' is like a
computer-generated art deco poster for a forgotten film. The the
beats are clean and sparingly used, while the synths are dark and
haunting. There is no over saturation, and Maroulis' distinctive
vocals permeate every layer with emotion. This is an excellent
consolidation of the two distinct musical strands of Maroulis' career
that have come together to open up a whole new chapter for him.