NOIR

It’s kind of simple: make dark music and call your band Noir. Someone has to be the first, and Athan Maroulis was the one. If the name sounds familiar to you, then you know a lot about the dark underground, because Athan is the guy behind EBM legend Spahn Ranch, and he was involved in recordings by Black Tape For A Blue Girl and Razed In Black. With his new band Noir, he makes something completely different: the beats of his previous band are still around, but in a different way. You will dance, but you will also have a lot of melancholic feelings when hearing this new digital EP (out on Metropolis in the US).

The opening track The Burning Bridge is intelligent synthpop (think Mesh) that flirts with the early futurepop sounds of Apoptygma Berzerk. The next track, Same Old Madness, is in the same genre. Also included is a majestic cover version of Duran Duran’s The Chauffeur. It’s risky to do so, because this is a timeless classic, but Noir does it in a great way!

In the last track, In Every Dream A Heartache, Noir shows that it belongs in only one category: this song is new wave that reminds us of Associates and Gavin Friday.

This EP is a perfect opportunity to discover a noir gem (forgive us, we couldn’t resist that!).

Didier BECU
10/12/2016