While Conroy is best known for his folk-flavoured indie rock, on this new album, he reveals his post-punk alter-ego, soaked in dream wave and goth richness. Drawing on the darker side of goth classics, select tracks on this album are crowned with ethereal female vocals, including Julie Dicterow of Oh Halo, Shannon Brown and Susan Hwang of Lusterlit, and drums by Justin Wierbonski (a.k.a. Demonic Drums). We hear the influences of Cocteau Twins, Chelsea Wolfe, Weyes Blood, Kate Bush, and The Cure.
This song, “Double Helix,” is dream pop at its finest. invoking the transcendental sonic ecstasy of folk romance with windswept shoegaze euphoria, enveloping the senses in a cocoon of gossamer sound.
“Going deeper into my goth influences seemed to offer me a natural and more suitable sonic landscape for these topics…Each of the guest singers has elevated the project to new levels and surpassed even my own visions of how their voices could combine with the instrumentation,” says Conroy. “Maybe it’s fear of vulnerability, or discomfort with how raw, irrational or unacceptable some of our base preconceptions or pessimistic expectations can seem, that make them tougher subjects to explore musically.”
Lush with dark reverie, it is beautifully complemented by a captivating video created by NYC-based artist Hypnodoll. Awash in reds, the dreamlike images float through as if one is half asleep; nothing solid, but all meaningful symbolism.
Watch below:
Growing up in Dublin, Ireland with four strongly opinionated brothers and musician parents (his father played guitar and mandolin and his mother played guitar and tin whistle), Conroy was exposed to an array of musical influences, ranging from new wave and post-punk to David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Elvis and ABBA. His world changed at 15 when his mother loaned him her nylon string guitar and taught him a few chords, instantaneously unlocking a whole new world of songwriting.
“Some of my songwriting has been more situational or distilled as expressions of particular events – universal human experiences like heartbreak, disappointment, betrayal, but driven by a need to process or express a particular chapter of my life,” says Conroy. “LoveMyth goes a step further in giving voice to the deeper underlying darkest fears that maybe aren’t always expressed, that are there as archetypal tendencies throughout many or all of the chapters of our lives.”
Years later, he would release two albums with Brooklyn’s The Listeners and go on to perform with gothic dreampop band Oh Haloon guitar and backing vocals from 2011 to 2014, during which time he released one album with them.
This record was produced, engineered and mastered by Charlie Nieland (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Blondie and Scissor Sisters) at Capture Sound Studios.Double Helix is available digitally via Spotify, Apple Musicand all digital music platforms. It will also be available as a single via Bandcamp when ordering the full album, which will be released on October 21.
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