Crepuscule With the Dead Science - EP

Album Review

On this five-song, 26-minute not-quite-album-not-quite-EP release, Dead Science summon atmospheric music that's both creepy and minimal. The languid bass, guitar, and drum arrangements (though there's just piano and vocal on the closing "All Ye Whom Love of Fortune") snake through skin-crawling melodies with a touch of late-night noir jazz. The high, shaky vocals slightly recall early David Bowie, but are considerably more effete and fearful. It's glum music, to be sure, but not as bleak as much of this nocturnal rock is; it's like goth without the makeup. The mood is usually placid, yet on the edge of nervously crumbling, at times falling over the abyss with crashing drums and feedback. It's rare that music of this sort is rather understated, as this record is, and as such it's recommended to admirers of despondent post-punk looking for something that's not clichéd.