I wake up and face you in the morning
As the hours go by
I’ll pull you out
from where you’ve gone
Los Angeles duo HALLOWS return with Catalyst. Since forming in 2019, Vanee Dusoruth and Dom Rolando have been sketching blueprints for a particular kind of nocturnal elegance; music where pulse and ache intertwine, where the past’s electronic echoes converse with the present’s restless drive. Their latest single, out now via their new home at Artoffact Records, distills those ideas into their sharpest and most unflinching form.
Catalyst opens with a bassline that immediately asserts its grip: steady yet tense, as if marching toward revelation. Synth figures dart across the mix, bright enough to catch the ear but never ornamental, each note carrying a sense of necessity. When the vocals arrive, they sound both exposed and determined. Dusoruth’s delivery conveys a yearning that leans forward rather than retreating, pulling the listener into the storm of desire, regret, and fragile hope at the heart of the song.
HALLOWS create an intriguing atmosphere through motion: Catalyst is built for the club as much as the headphones, demanding physical response while leaving emotional residue. The balance between melody and muscle is exacting: disco’s glimmer rubbing shoulders with punk’s insistence, all refracted through their ongoing dialogue with the darker reaches of synth music’s lineage.
The lyrical terrain of Catalyst feels drawn from the intimate diary entries of a difficult night: voices weighted with desire, a struggle against separation, the tug between what is present and what is already gone. The words never spell everything out, yet they are heavy with suggestion…moments of entrapment, sudden pleas for connection, the wish to rewind and find another beginning. It is as much about memory as it is about immediacy, and that tension gives the track its restless electricity.
The song is about trying to pull someone you love out of their own darkness, reminding them you’re there, even when everything feels out of control,” says Dom Rolando. “Vanee and I had so much fun building the vocal melodies, drawing inspiration from 80s disco and funk, while pushing for something modern and fresh. Matia Simovich’s production gave the track the energy and shape we envisioned. We are really proud of where it landed.”
The video for “Catalyst” plays out beneath the moon’s crescent glow, its lo-fi camcorder haze capturing the duo as they ascend concrete stairs and pass through alleyways and car-lined streets under phosphorescent light. Grain and blur turn each moment into a half-remembered dream, where intimacy and unease coexist. Dusoruth and Rolando wander like figures suspended between memory and immediacy, their movements echoing the track’s pulse—an after-hours hymn carried by shadows, silence, and the quiet electricity of night.
Watch the video for “Catalyst” below:
Listen to Catalyst below and order the single here.
HALLOWS’ journey to this point has been relentless. From the underground sparks of their debut EP Subtle through the full-length All That Is True and the cinematic sweep of A Quieter Life, they have carved their own niche. Now aligned with Artoffact Records and stepping onto European stages for the first time, they carry the weight of experience without dulling the edge of discovery.
“We have been longtime fans of Artoffact,” says Dusoruth. “So many of our peers from the goth scene are on the label, but what excites us just as much is how diverse their roster is. We are a dark electronic band, yet some of the artists who have inspired us most on Artoffact come from very different worlds like GGGOLDDD, KEN Mode, Cloud Rat, and our friends in Mares of Thrace, who all come from different scenes from us. Though their sound is different from ours, the intensity and emotional honesty in their music resonate with us deeply. To be joining a label that embraces such range and still feels like home is both surreal and a privilege.”
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