Photo by Kirsten Miccoli
Philadelphia EBM Project Silver Walks certainly talks the talk in recreating the dark and exuberance synth atmosphere of 80s Wax Trax! era artists, while sounding distinct and contemporary in its aural relevance.
Serving as the guise of musician Daniel McCullough, the project treads a myriad of darkwave genres infusing punk, synth pop, and psychedelia. McCullough is the project’s sole member who writes, arranges, performs, and engineers all the songs, enlisting various collaborators to add their contributions later. There are no pretensions in his methodology in creating music. McCullough’s focus is on mood and atmosphere, and the dynamic range of styles explored across his debut LP defies easy categorization.
The album starts off strong with the caustic, buoyant, and psychedelic old-school EBM of “Lantern,” giving way to the sultry electronica of “Silence the Dark.”
“Eyes of Caligula” carries the cinematic groove of 80s Wax Trax, which is carried on into the next track, “Albatross.”
“Rose in a Blood Red Field” is a post-industrial intermezzo that is an unsettling respite leading into the seductive rhythms of “Tear Me Down.”
“In Consequence” is a melancholic dancefloor-friendly darkwave banger whose harsh male vocals are softened by the captivating melody,
The album closes with the sinister industrial rock of “Mirrortowne,” bookending the album with a song reminiscent of Revco and Nine Inch Nails, proudly drawing inspiration from the golden age of Chicago EBM and Wax Trax.
Listen to Various Positions below and order the album here:
Silver Walks’ full-length debut Various Positions is a record about lives in crisis, both during and in the reflective phase in the aftermath. Band leader Daniel McCullough found himself both new to, and trapped in Atlanta during the pandemic. As a decidedly northern boy, the new setting may as well have been Mars. The, uh, “unexpected free time” during lockdown in this strange new environment was used constructively. And in writing and producing the album, collaborators such as Stella Soleil, Cubanate’s Marc Heal, and legendary producer John Fryer (NIN, Depeche Mode) were introduced to the project organically.
Various Positions is out now.
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