Written: 13th March 2024
Hailing from Sweden, darkwave / post-punk band Pink Milk received high praise for both their debut album Purple in 2017 and its follow-up Ultraviolet in 2021. On the duo’s third album, Night On Earth, they embrace a darker electronic aesthetic as they tell nine ethereal and ghostly tales about lost love and the end of the world.
Opener You Will Follow Me To Hell (Night On Earth) is a wonderful example of everything that is to follow on the album. Melancholic and evocative from the outset, the duo (Maria and Edward Forsland) delve into the concept of the album, their use of dreamlike soundscapes and music drenched in reverb and echo creating a sense of distance and longing as if the voice is calling out from a dream or memory. Last night on earth with you / I could tell you knew it too / Close your eyes / Hold my hand / Come Armageddon. Uniform throughout almost the entire track, the sparse but surreally disturbing drums serve to pull the listener in even closer, hypnotic and captivating.
Every moment on the album is created through the use of understated yet bewitching tones, colours and glowing embers of introspection. Everything Reminds Me Of You begins with the feeling of a subtly aquatic ebb and flow, as if we are floating on a still lake looking up at the stars, deep in contemplation. Lose my mind / It’s true / Everything reminds me of you / Insanity is real / Tell me you feel this to. With the lyrics portraying someone struggling with the aftermath of a relationship or unreciprocated affection, Maria Forslund (who also plays drums on the album) sinks further into her journey of enlightenment and reflection in her final hours. Another exquisitely restrained song, Everything Reminds Me Of You entices with Edward Forsland’s mournful guitar and its sensorial mesmerism. Who Breaks Your Heart? is similar in style and it could be argued that there is limited variation in terms of dynamics during the first three tracks. However, this intentionally deep dive into an infectious combination of dreampop and shoegaze is increasingly and irresistibly alluring the further the album progresses.
Andromeda (sung in Swedish) is an exploration of transformation and the impact of love or the lack thereof. It changes the tempos and atmosphere experienced thus far on the album. A feeling of otherworldliness, luminously sparkling keyboards and effervescent percussion are juxtaposed with the sombre lyrics and shadowy vocals to create a haunting cocktail of emotions. It is perfectly positioned on the album to raise the listener from the intoxicating trance-like nature of the opening trio of songs.
Fifth track, The End of the World (a cover of the 1962 Skeeter Davis country classic) plunges us back into a meditative state once again. A spectral and wraithlike interpretation of the song, the lyrics (originally by Sylvia Dee drawing on the sorrow experienced following her father’s death) fit the eerie dreaminess and apocalyptic themes of the album. Why do the birds go on singing? / Why do the stars glow above? / Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when I lost your love. On I Walk After You and throughout the album, Maria Forsland’s emotional openness is beautifully moving and many listeners who have experienced similar feelings will feel a cathartic resonance with the canvas of personal vulnerability.
We Should Listen To Goth Music Everyday delivers some of the most heavily treated vocals on the album as one of the darkest moments begins to unfurl. I lose myself / Enter another universe / Armageddon / Come tonight. Precise, invariant drumming is a fixture of Night On Earth and much of We Should Listen To Goth Music Everyday is no exception. References to the sub-genre reveal how music can be used to cope with the darker truths of existence such as mortality and the potential for heartbreak, while also finding a sense of identity and community within its confines. Edward Forsland’s distant guitar exponentially draws the listener closer, as if his illusory notes might come into sharp focus should we completely submit to the music. By the time penultimate track I Lose My Mind - a eulogy to the web of memories of love gone by - is complete, we are utterly immersed in the grandiose lustre that Pink Milk have created. Closer Boy Tears (an instrumental track save for the spoken word of an invitation to leave a message to an unanswered phone call and the unnerving voice that leaves a reply) features some celestially euphoric - but again distant - guitar from Edward Forsland that is the most beguiling on the entire album.
Across its thirty-five minuets, Night On Earth is a spiritualistic blend of ambient dreampop, shoegaze and darkwave elements. The significant use of effects creates a dense, immersive sonic landscape, alongside the band’s nuanced use of their post-punk and psychedelic influences. In places, sweeping cinematic references even bring to mind the more diaphanous moments of film noir. Pink Milk caters to those seeking an intense, reflective listening experience and Night On Earth is simultaneously resplendently exhilarating and painfully introspective. Consistently enthralling…
Night On Earth is released on 15th March 2024
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