Today Demise Of Love, the new project from Daniel Avery, James Greenwood's Ghost Culture, and Working Men’s Club share their second ever single "Be A Man"- an industrial cut with a helping of melancholic euphoria via Syd Minsky Sargeant’s grounding vocals. The accompanying visualiser encapsulates the narrow void of a man finding himself trapped within 4 walls in a dark, aggressive, surreal and high paced dreamscape that pays homage to the paintings of Francis Bacon. It’s the latest taste of their eponymous debut EP, which will land digitally and physically on 10” limited edition vinyl on May 30.
The four-track EP, mixed by Alan Moulder, has traces of the sounds that have made all three artists so loved, from sky-scraping synths to ultra-catchy choruses, all rendered with shuddering intensity. Yet the record’s four tracks don’t really sound like the music of any of its three individual creators - or indeed like anything else out there. "Strange Little Consequence" moves elegantly from a vicious acidic shuffle to a huge rock chorus and back again, the transition both entirely unexpected and utterly irresistible. Elsewhere, "Carry The Blame" sees the elegant sky lines of Detroit techno brought to life by Working Men’s Club’s Syd Minsky Sargeant’s unmistakable vocal. "Be A Man" is industrial punk with a helping of melancholic euphoria, and "Like I Loved You" closes the EP with vocals fromGreenwood in pure-pop exhilaration that rockets off into electronic space; an instant hit.
The record’s lyrics, too, share themes that cross over with the group’s production style: dissonant, off kilter and heavy. Consider “Dead peasants excite you / Rewards of the plight fall / Into your hands / Your equivocal hands” from "Strange Little Consequence"; or “Your ways are antiquated / And I’m bored now / I’ve given up on trying / To work out how / To reconnect the fractures / That you created” from "Be A Man". These are lyrics that speak of modern unease and a desperate search for connection.
Avery calls the trio’s debut EP, “Three distinct sonic personalities coming together to create something new entirely, a search for a burning light that could only exist between the trio.” And he’s right: Demise of Love is new; but it is also full of life and feeling, where innovation is employed for the sake of emotion, rather than as an end in itself.
Fans of all three artists will find plenty to love in this EP. But it is the chemistry between Avery, Greenwood and Minsky Sargeant that counts, creating music that is bold yet classy, timeless and quietly beautiful.