Image
Categories: Reviews

Listen to Ottawa Darkwavers The Seance’s Album “The Last Dance”

Didn’t you know when the devil comes out

In the shape of a bottle, calling your name

He takes many forms and weighs on your doubt

It won’t be my last, I will be here to stay

The Seance are a post-punk/New Wave/gothic synth-pop duo from Ottawa, Canada. Describing themselves only as “sacred and haunted,” they choose to cloak themselves in the same spiritual enigma as their name implies – a conduit of music from another realm.

Their lyrics, as one would expect, delve into death, addiction, alcoholism, dark nights of the soul, and Jekyll & Hyde stories; all set to eerie synths, pounding basslines, and vocals teeming with gravitas.

This album deals with dark material, but their instrumental mastery becomes pure dance floor ecstasy. There are heavily arpeggiated sequences evoking Human League, John Foxx, early Duran Duran, and the odd disjointedness and switch-hitting of Matthew Dear; with the world-weariness of Nick Cave, the sociopolitical bend of The The, and the post-disco intensity of Yazoo.

The album opens with the entreating darkness of “Join the Club,” which is followed by the brilliant and brooding pulsing darkwave anthem “Lunar Effect,” which highlights The Seance’s ability to weave a vocal croon similar to Matt Johnson, and Barry Andrews of Shriekback.

“Memory Void” is an eerie and cinematic dark disco dreamscape with a spine-tingling and seductive atmosphere, which continues with the shimmering and shadowy “Illicit.”

“Sounds of Solemn” is a phantasmagoric invocation that sounds like Phil Oakey having a duet with a witch in a haunted house, while “Black Widow” spins a melody of crystalline synths and tenebrous beats, with a haunting anima animus vocal interplay.

“From Dusk Till Dawn,” an album highlight, builds up slowly to a dance-friendly marvel, evoking classic at times OMD and Depeche Mode, but augmented with classic post-punk bass and guitars. The album closes with the murmuring incantations of the title track, “Last Dance,” bookending an album that is definitely one of the most engagingndarkwave albums released this year.

A fabulous effort from this beautiful mystery.

Listen to the album below:

Follow The Seance:

Alice Teeple

Alice Teeple is a photographer, multidisciplinary artist, and writer. She is not in Tin Machine.

Recent Posts

  • Bands

Los Angeles Synth-Pop Outfit Male Tears Releases Self-Titled Debut Album on Vinyl for the First Time

I’ve been swimming in an ocean of tears I went swimming in all of my fears And every day is…

1 day ago
  • Bands

Beauty and Despair — Swiss Coldwavers Future Faces Drift Among the Ashes of Lost Tomorrows in “Memoria”

Our entire life Was like a spell of beauty and despair This old delusion Hectic with our own selfish thirst…

2 days ago
  • Bands

Chasing Ghosts by the Black Sea — Georgia-based Darkwavers Chronotape Release Poignant “Strangers” EP

Yesterday is history And today is just misery So we say "Long live the King" Oh, he ruined everything Hailing…

2 days ago
  • Bands

Melbourne Artist Claire Birchall Blends Tremulous Art Pop Melodies With Gothic Undertones in “The Haunting”

I don’t mean to rain on your parade But sometimes when I bend, I break Australian artist Claire Birchall, Melbourne's…

3 days ago
  • Bands

NYC Darkwavers MIDNIGHTCHOIR Release Spine-tingling Video for “Tempted” From Their “Temptation (Demos)” EP — Plus Review

You can keep your revolution if we can't dance to it. Because we're not going out on our knees.  We're…

3 days ago
  • Bands

Guitarist Slim Dunlap of The Replacements Passes Away at 73

The Replacements' guitarist Bob “Slim” Dunlap has passed away at 73, leaving behind a legacy as enduring as the melodies…

3 days ago
Sticky Footer Banner with Close Button