Mexico’s Ernie.fr steps forward with Nocturne Stereo, a debut that lands like a late-night radio broadcast that grabs you by the hand as the veil between the hour and dreaming blue. Five tracks form its chill-inducing spine, each one steeped in the fog of bilingual devotion: English and Spanish entwined with the ease of two lovers whispering secrets across a flickering streetlamp. The record draws its voltage from the roots of Mexico’s escena oscura, but its pulse stretches across continents: the skeletal tension of late-’70s post-punk, Europe’s coldwave ache, and the granite minimalism once prized in the Soviet underground.
Ernie.fr moves with an instinctive sense of atmosphere: guitars curve like smoke drifting through abandoned corridors; synth tones shimmer like distant signals on a dying radio band. The production walks a narrow, soulful tightrope, neither too polished nor too coarse, leaving every phrase suspended between devotion and decay. There’s a sense of ritual; a feeling of songs carved from dim clubs, border towns, and the atmosphere of Mexico City after midnight.
Vestido Negro opens the door with a slow, romantic tremor, its guitar lines circling like a secret vow. Smoke & Mirrors pushes deeper, its cadence steady and cool, carrying a whispered unease. Lose You to the Night swells with melancholic yearning, its reverb-drenched edges drifting like steam from a cracked sidewalk grate. City of Angels drifts between continents, its bilingual phrasing forming a bridge between distance and desire. Purple Haze closes the suite with a strangely serene glide, as if tracing the final silhouette of a half-remembered love.
Influences echo throughout the album: Joy Division’s tensile restraint, Siouxsie’s theatrical poise, Public Image Ltd’s fevered minimalism, The Cure’s bright-edged gloom, alongside the modern pulse of Mareux, French Police, Lebanon Hanover, Twin Tribes, and Molchat Doma. Nocturne Stereo thrives less in homage and more in its own quiet voltage, however – a record steeped in gothic romanticism, speaking fluently across borders, hearts, and histories.
Listen to Nocturne Stereo below:
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