Yesterday is history
And today is just misery
So we say “Long live the King”
Oh, he ruined everything
Hailing from Russia and now rooted in Georgia, Chronotape emerged in 2023 as a darkwave and post-punk duo comprising Eve on vocals and Dee crafting the music. Their latest EP, Strangers, pulls threads from ’80s aesthetics, John Carpenter’s eerie scores, and the warm synth tones of 80s cyber, blending these with the ethos of gothic rock’s pioneers to carve their own identity imbued with a special kind of wintry romance.
The album opens with the hauntingly beautiful Cold Wind Blows, a guitar-driven track where a dark synth melody cascades like shards of ice, setting the tone for a lament steeped in the weight of history. Its verses resonate with the tyranny that stains every era—a grim procession of power-hungry usurpers who trample their people and betray their lands. The song is both a cry of despair and a beacon of resilience, capturing the plight of those left adrift on scorched earth, their homes reduced to ashes. It gives voice to a displaced people, torn from their roots and forced to march toward an uncertain horizon. The music rises like a bitter wind, carrying the sorrow of loss and an unshakable question: where do we go from here?
The next track, Chasing Ghosts, is driven by a bracing bass synth that intertwines with the warmth of a melodic bass guitar, jangling guitars, and soaring vocals that deliver a breathtaking melody. This song delves deep into personal terrain, exploring a shifting reality where memory and the present blur unsettlingly. Old recollections spiral endlessly, looping through the mind like a broken reel, evoking the futility of chasing phantoms down deserted corridors and vacant avenues where footsteps echo into the void. Within this haunting soundscape, blame, memory, and loss entwine like overgrown vines gripping a crumbling fence, creating a relentless cycle that refuses to break. The lyrics challenge the listener to confront this repetition, as the music becomes a drumbeat of doubt—each note resonating with the ache of an old bruise. Ghosts drift through hollow spaces, unsettling the fragile fabric of the future, leaving certainty dissolved with every repetition and only longing and faint understanding behind.
“Lyrically we tried to convey the feeling of a lost connection between two people in a distorted and doomed relationship,” says the band. “Futile attempts to return what is gone forever, everlasting race without reaching the finish line. Very often it turns out like this is the hardest thing at the end of a day – to let go.”
The DIY video was shot on the Black Sea coast of Georgia, where band was based for the last two years. “We were amazed by that image of flying airplanes and have strong feeling that’s perfect fitting to the song’s theme,” says the band. “A pinch of romance, a pinch of sadness, a pinch of melancholy by the sea – a recipe for broken hearts needs to be fixed. You need to move on and let others move on.”
Let The Night Come stands as the most gothic entry on the release, a track steeped in the timeless tension of life and death. Its verses glide with quiet restraint, only to crash into a chorus as ferocious as it is final. Eve’s voice, distant yet trembling with well-placed emotion, acts as the anchor for a song that melds contrasting arrangements into a cohesive whole. Drawing inspiration from the pulsing synthpop and darkwave of the 1980s, this bass-synth-driven piece was the first written by Chronotape, laying the foundation for their sound.
While its musical tone leans light, the lyrics carry a weight bittersweet and unmistakably human, reflecting on the aching loss of connection. It peers into fears that claw at the edges of existence—the fear of aging, of death, of living a life unlived. Even the darkness itself becomes a subject of dread. Yet the song does not dwell in despair; it acknowledges the inevitable rhythm of nature, where all things must come and go. Fear, it warns, serves no purpose, offering no escape from life’s transience. Light and dark both claim us, and acceptance remains the only path forward.
Watch “Let the Night Come” below:
The EP’s finale, Memorial, unfolds as a sweeping instrumental, driven by a commanding melodic line and searing guitar solos. Carpenter-esque synths hum beneath, creating an atmosphere both grand and somber. A poignant voice sample from the late Harry Dean Stanton, drawn from his unforgettable role in Lucky, imbues the track with gravitas, tying its drama to a reflection on life’s fragility and quiet resilience.
Listen to Strangers at the link below and purchase it here.
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