Hallows Debut Dreamy Darkwave Synth Melodies on Haunting First Album “All That Is True”

Seattle-based darkwave duo Hallows have released their first full-length album, All That Is True, out now on Cold Transmission Music.

Maintaining themes of “unease and loneliness” in their music, the duo stay true to the darkwave/post-punk genres while featuring a synthesized sheen of minimal wave and icy coldwave with lush saturation. The vocal duo of Vanee D.’s sweet and impassioned delivery with Dom R.’s brooding back-from-the-grave baritone creates tension that carries the songs. Production from Seattle producer Aaron C. Schroeder is also effective in capturing the band’s romantic gloom and intensity, offering a clean and clear distillation of the duo in their most vulnerable form yet.

It’s a development in sound from their previously released Subtle EP, adding stillness and silence to create eerie atmospheres to the wash of darkwave synths and hummable-yet-dreary melodies. In this layered bed of 80s-inspired darkness, some tracks teeter closer to goth/post-punk and others to synth-pop and minimal wave in a stripped-down Xeno and Oaklander style. The album closes with a Thievery Corporation-esque remix of their previous EP’s single “The Call” from Buried Electric, capping the release off on a note that’s just as sultry as sad.

The album’s first video for the title track “All That Is True Dies” also sees the band embrace a more minimal approach, directed in quarantine by and starring the band themselves. Dreamy edits of the duo holding burning flowers evoke feelings of impermanence, loss, and nostalgia. Dom R. says, “The song is about the past and how it follows you around but, in the end, everything is temporary.”

All That Is True is Hallows’ first release with Cold Transmission Music, and is out on CD, vinyl, and digital.

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