Hope I find you
Awake tonight
When I’m dreaming
I can’t hold onto you
Sleep offers a peculiar bargain to anyone missing someone they cannot reach. For a few hours, a face returns, a voice becomes clear, and the distance seems negotiable. Morning collects its debt. Louisville synth-pop trio MODISTE understands the terrible tenderness of that exchange, bringing a spellbinding ache to their cover of The Black Queen’s “Distanced.” Beautiful and uneasy in equal measure, their interpretation holds close to the original while allowing vocalist Sydney Sleadd to lead it somewhere distinctly her own.
The cover’s release precedes MODISTE’s two upcoming appearances alongside The Black Queen and Trace Amount on the Fever Daydream tenth-anniversary tour. “Distanced” originally appeared on that album, and MODISTE have been performing it in their own sets since March. With the shared bills approaching, the trio moved quickly to have their recording mixed and mastered, turning a live favorite into a recorded salute before meeting its makers on the road.
A tight, compressed snare rhythm and rippling bass synth establish the song’s measured movement. Sustained guitar accents stretch above them with a dreamy, Cure-like delicacy, leaving space for a voice that seems to glow in the dark. Sleadd’s singing carries warmth through an icy wash of reverb, her delivery intimate even as the room around it seems to expand. It is among MODISTE’s most Lynchian vocal turns yet: poised, emotionally exposed, and suggestive of a familiar room made strange by the person missing from it.
As Sleadd begins to glide through the melody with greater force, the percussion gathers speed and the arrangement opens around her. Iridescent synth tones chime like fireflies in the dark; further layers rise beneath the chorus, lending weight to its plea for another encounter beyond waking life. Harmonies deepen that sense of yearning without crowding the lead. The guitar’s angular edges and the precision of the programmed drums keep the performance moving while the voice stretches toward something it cannot quite touch.
The lyrics gradually reveal the severity of that separation. Songs, whispers, and the smallest intervals of consciousness become reminders of an absent person, until the reference to a grave makes the loss explicit. Sleep becomes both a means of reunion and another occasion for parting. Sleadd gives that contradiction room to hurt, building the chorus from a private wish into an appeal whose strength cannot guarantee an answer.
The recording was mixed by Dave Chale at Louisville’s Deadbird Studios, becoming the first release mixed on the studio’s newly acquired Neve console. Chris Gehringer handled mastering at Sterling Sound.
Listen to “Distanced” below:
MODISTE brings together Sleadd, synthesist Dennis Stein, and guitarist Kyle Stallings. Sleadd’s background in Louisville’s folk songwriting community meets Stein’s more than 25 years of synth and production experience, including his solo work as Introvert, and Stallings’ grounding in punk, experimental rock, and electronic music. Working primarily with vintage analog synthesizers, drum machines, and digital instruments from the 1980s and 1990s, the trio draws connections between synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, and darker electronic music.
Their debut album followed on August 7, 2026, and work on a second is already underway. Onstage, synchronized lighting, CRT televisions, glitch visuals, and avant-garde fashion extend the music’s peculiar atmosphere. Local photographers, seamstresses, designers, dancers, and videographers contribute to that wider creative world, giving the project a community beyond its three members.
MODISTE Live dates with The Black Queen and Trace Amount:
- September 29 — Asheville, NC — Eulogy
- October 1 — Nashville, TN — Eastside Bowl
More MODISTE live dates:
- October 2 — Adams, TN — Kinda Spoopy Fest at Red River Canoe Rental
- October 10 — Louisville, KY — Fall Schnitzelburg Walk at The Merryweather
- October 24 — Louisville, KY — “Night Service” at PORTAL (with MODELE, Black Signal, and Virgin Birth; Substance Subculture dance afterparty)
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