Rosie Frost – Jupiter
Similar artists: The Cure, Beach House
Genre: Gothic / Dark Wave, Shoegaze
Real goth-rockers have the concentration powers of legendary yogic gurus, and there’s very little that can break it. The fact is that you would need these kinds of abilities to remain anchored to the fantasy and the mood on which goth music is built. The other important fact to note is that the colour palette with which this kind of musical style paints does not easily allow for contrasting colours.
It’s a bit like opting to play a part and knowing that you’ll never be allowed to break character. Rosie Frost understands this and fashions every sound here so as not to break the spell. It’s a strategy that will go a long way to proving his adherence to an important cultural movement. Goths will often claim that it is the atmosphere that they find most important about successful songs of this genre.
And, indeed, this is what the songwriter does here. Rosie Frost’s “Jupiter” is a colourless love song, but not a bland one. The objective is to create a space journey for the mind and to show you just how dangerous this might be and how far away it would take you from humanity and from all the things until they have become familiar to you. Goth music has a knack for investigating otherworldliness, and Rosie Frost does the same here.
Liminal Shade – Unexpected Mystery
Similar artists: SALEM, Dead Can Dance, Sidewalks and Skeletons, Crystal Castles, Purity Ring
Genre: Gothic / Dark Wave
There’s a great promise that hides in every silence. There’s a great story waiting to be uncovered every time that you hear your footsteps tread down lonesome streets at night. And, there’s a real possibility you may see people for who they really are at the moment the lights go out. Everything may be uncovered eventually, and that’s the musical philosophy that the neo-goth act Liminal Shade functions on.
This is something that fascinated artists throughout time. The Romantics of the late 18th Century did the most to grow its potential with numerous poems about deep seas, beautiful lakes, and tall cliffs. The New Romantics and Goths did something similar but also managed to optimize the dress code that their predecessors had merely hinted at two centuries earlier.
Liminal Shade’s “Unexpected Mystery” is a promise. It’s an image of great beauty that can be seen somewhere in the distance and for whose existence there’s no proof. Sonically, the band takes a queue from the exciting soundscapes of modern goth-inspired groups. There’s a gloom here, for certain. We wouldn’t be surprised if Robert Smith of The Cure might have had his poster hanging in the Liminal Shade’s rehearsal room, and there’s a genuine desire to discover that which has not yet been uncovered.
