Tokyo’s Sex Virgin Killer has always understood that style is never merely the shimmer of light that catches on a surface in the dark. It is part of the spell, a way of setting noise, image, memory, and desire into motion until they begin circling one another in the same room, suspended between what is shown and what is withheld. That instinct shapes ANGEL, the band’s new album, issued in two distinct editions: one in Japan through lilii sound loom, and one internationally via Young & Cold Records. The dual release feels fitting, casting the album as a kind of double image, the same body caught in separate mirrors, each one returning a slightly altered truth.
That feels appropriate for a group with roots stretching back to 2006, now moving with renewed purpose and a sharpened sense of identity. You can hear it in the severe – and often bizarre – elegance of the arrangements. ANGEL advances on cold minor-key patterns and guitars drawn into rigid, slantwise figures, then haloed by reverb that gives every phrase a sense of distance and occasion. The music has the poise of classic gothic rock, but slyly shifts its dress code. One minute, it recalls the disciplined chill of Xmal Deutschland or Malaria!; the next, it opens into the romantic frost parrell to Drab Majesty, the motorik gloom popularized by Molchat Doma, or the taut, chiming ache of The Smiths. Elsewhere, there are hints of Propaganda’s aristocratic drama, Mephisto Walz’s nocturnal poise, and even a touch of Lene Lovich’s sly, eccentric art-pop voltage.
Aisha and Lilii Mar give the material its unstable glamour. Their voices turn the songs into scenes, into situations, into episodes of intensity where tone carries as much force as language. There is a rich, dramatic reach in the singing. Beneath them, Lilii Mar’s guitars, bass, and synthesizers build a world of gleaming surfaces and hidden stress, while Hammer’s drums and electronics keep tightening and releasing the frame. Even the more dance-minded passages retain a ceremonial edge. A snare snaps forward, guitars gather in long sighing drifts, and suddenly the track feels like a transmission from a nightclub at the end of the world, equal parts romance and ruin.
The Japanese Version was mixed and mastered by Yui Kimijima and Soichiro Nakamura, while Daniel Hallhuber of Young & Cold Records handled mixing and mastering for the International Version.
The international Version of ANGEL is out now via Young & Cold Records. Order here
Listen to the Japanese version of ANGEL below, and order it here
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