Passions CDr
©Disaro. US, 2010.
‟Maybe it’s just that I’ve been in a Wax Trax! cave for the past 24 hours (or, you know, 15 years) but this EP made me wonder: Would Dannie Flesher and Jim Nash have fallen all over themselves for Passions had producer/songwriter/etc. Ben Dietz been around in the label’s heyday? I think they would have, and I think Cabaret Voltaire would have loved him too, maybe even Bernard Sumner; Passions does, after all, sound like that theoretical project Ian Curtis and Genesis P-Orridge would have shared had things worked out differently.
Not that you could ever consider Passions a rip-off, or even that much of a straight-up rehash. Deitz (formerly known as Math Head, the Trouble and Bass dance wunderkind) is too brilliant a producer to allow anything he touches to be so bland. Passions suggests 80s industrial-disco for sure, especially opening track “Wrists”, but the way Giselle Reiber’s waft like vocals (buried though they are under an ocean of harmony) overlay the short, explosive guitar has far more in common with Cocteau Twins than it does My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. What’s more, there’s an attitude here—a sort of lonely, washed out sadness—that permeates each detail perfectly, from the ghostly build of “Amnesia” to the panicked, claustrophobic synth accents of “Composure”. Way to cram so much quiet desperation into one itsy-bitsy EP.
And weirdly enough, its itsy-bitsiness is both blessing and curse—if you count a bunch of crazy zealous fans as a curse. Though brevity is the soul of so much great music—and one of the most difficult and misunderstood elements—this is one of those rare and wonderful EPs that actually leaves me unsated. I want more. Immediately. Passions is simply too dark, too emotional, too flat-out flawless and awesome, to simply push out of your head after 6 songs. I’ll be counting the minutes until the next release.‟
Not that you could ever consider Passions a rip-off, or even that much of a straight-up rehash. Deitz (formerly known as Math Head, the Trouble and Bass dance wunderkind) is too brilliant a producer to allow anything he touches to be so bland. Passions suggests 80s industrial-disco for sure, especially opening track “Wrists”, but the way Giselle Reiber’s waft like vocals (buried though they are under an ocean of harmony) overlay the short, explosive guitar has far more in common with Cocteau Twins than it does My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. What’s more, there’s an attitude here—a sort of lonely, washed out sadness—that permeates each detail perfectly, from the ghostly build of “Amnesia” to the panicked, claustrophobic synth accents of “Composure”. Way to cram so much quiet desperation into one itsy-bitsy EP.
And weirdly enough, its itsy-bitsiness is both blessing and curse—if you count a bunch of crazy zealous fans as a curse. Though brevity is the soul of so much great music—and one of the most difficult and misunderstood elements—this is one of those rare and wonderful EPs that actually leaves me unsated. I want more. Immediately. Passions is simply too dark, too emotional, too flat-out flawless and awesome, to simply push out of your head after 6 songs. I’ll be counting the minutes until the next release.‟
Mishka
