We truly enjoyed exploring ‘Berlin’. Not the city, but rather, Pleasure Victim’s new album. A gloomy and nostalgic dive into post-punk and synthwave territories, the record feels quite haunting and dark, with gritty guitars layered onto brighter electronic sounds and electronic beats. The collective vocals of the American duo are often wrapped in spacious textures and lo-fi goo, a quality that makes their music quite feverish and hazy, certainly leftfield. ‘Heart of the Sun’ is the perfect evidence of that.
Elsewhere, ‘Reality Punk’ flourishes on a more punk-infused aural livery and a straightforward structure. The project’s eerie charge is turned up to the maximum in ‘Gemma’, a highly cinematic affair that sees Taylor and Alison Hill exchanging ad-libs. Abstract and obscure pieces such as ‘Every Good Boy Does Fine’ particularly highlight the boundary-pushing, fringe nature behind ‘Berlin’ and Pleasure Victim.
Delving deeper into the record, the North Carolina-based pair explain: “‘Berlin’ is less about a real place and more about a state of mind. It’s a dream city that anyone can have in their heart. It could be a place you’ve lost, or a place you can only really go to in your imagination. Art can bring these dreams to life, and that’s why I made this album.”
Recommended! Discover ‘Berlin’ on Spotify:
