Born on Chicago’s North Side in the early 1980s, The Penthouse Plants were the kind of artful post‑punk curiosity whose reputation rarely drifted beyond city limits. Led by singer‑songwriter John X. Belmonte, with close collaborators Uli Diamond and Rick Owen, the group found a shared language in that era’s adventurous cross‑pollination—art‑rock flair, new wave pulse, and the grittier, pre‑industrial undercurrent of the Midwest. They haunted underground rooms, polished a clutch of home‑recorded demos, and absorbed lessons from glam’s elegant provocateurs (Roxy Music, Bowie) and synth pioneers (Gary Numan, Heaven 17). And yet: no official releases, no breakout moment—just a tantalizing footnote in Chicago’s rich post‑punk lineage.
Fast‑forward to the present’s digital epoch, and Belmonte has excavated the archive, breathing studio life into songs written nearly forty years ago. Beginning in 2023, The Penthouse Plants started unveiling a run of singles that feels like a message in a bottle washing ashore—vintage ideas, newly recorded with modern clarity. A revolving cast of players, including original bassist Bob Anderson and guitarist Jim Miller, helps capture the band’s “old‑new” chemistry. The group neatly frames themselves as post‑punk / synthpop / pre‑gothic rock, and the results land right where those worlds overlap: moody machines, elegant melodrama, and a touch of nocturnal romance.
“Dancing In The Dark” (No, not the Springsteen song.) is where The Penthouse Plants’ rebirth snaps into focus. The track moves in the half‑light between tribute and invention, nodding to goth‑inflected synth of the late ’80s while staking its own silhouette. You can feel the cool draft of Clan of Xymox, catch a baritone’s brush that hints at Peter Murphy, and glimpse the lacquered poise of Bryan Ferry—but what lingers are the song’s particulars: analogue synths that are precise and patient, each note placed like a nocturnal streetlight; flanged guitar filigree and decisive percussion that lend a granular, post‑punk edge; and Belmonte’s hushed, dusky vocal tracing a path through the fog.
It’s that balance—cold electronic elegance vs. soft‑focus nostalgia—that makes “Dancing In The Dark” feel both 1983 and 2025. A lyric visualizer underscores the mood with nocturnal imagery, and the track has quietly circulated through darkwave playlists and underground corners where this kind of midnight architecture is appreciated.
Listen to Dancing In The Dark below:
Find more tracks from The Penthouse Plants, such as Stangers Falling in Love, The End of Anna, Highrise, and more, on the band’s Spotify here.
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