Two strong forces from the dark underground join forces, and come up with something both diverse in nature and originative. Industrial/post punk/shoegaze act, Bloody Knives, and dark pop trio, We Are Parasols, together become Last Ice, and their just released self titled album lives up to the reputation both acts have built for themselves thus far.
Album standout Chains, amalgamates the finest of the very fine qualities the two bands have carefully wielded into their own unique styles. Industrial tension, shoegaze atmospherics and well crafted, pulsating electronics become one thoroughly coherent unit, while Preston Maddox’s monochromatic vocal is perfectly juxtaposed to D’s operatic radiance especially on the aforementioned highlight of track, and throughout the whole album which is filled with avant garde artfulness and gothic aesthetics.
Last Ice's aura echoes Maddox's project with Curve's Dean Garcia, STFU, as well as Bloody Knives' moodier work, while the contribution of We Are Parasols is crucial to the music's tone and spirit, and the overarching airiness through which the new project becomes diversified from the other acts to which it's directly associated.
While the dark energy of Chains is more Bloody Knives, the ethereal croon of Prayer leans closer to what We Are Parasols have to offer. It's another high point on the album, and it comes with a video directed and edited by Maddox.
Elsewhere on the album, Moriah West from electropunk duo, Xibling, amplifies the ethereality of opening cut, Summon, while tracks like the trippily propulsive Curse, and Disease which is reminiscent of 4AD via its dreamlike fragility, both add to the record's otherworldly nature. Partly danceable, partly eerie, Submit renders an additional layer of cyberpunk flair to the album's wide-ranging grit. It is all perfectly summated in End which closes the album to a warm and inviting high.
"Last Ice began with We Are Parasols finishing songs from an abandoned Bloody Knives record, which in turn prompted Bloody Knives to begin remixing tracks from the We Are Parasols EP No Center Line (originally released in 2018)," comments the new project and Bloody Knives' own, Preston Maddox. "What resulted were songs that held a coherent vision but were often far from their origin."
"Our self-titled debut, Last Ice, is many things, it’s part concept album, part mash-up, and part remix record. After a short West Coast tour together our two bands, Bloody Knives and We Are Parasols, became friends and discovered we had many overlapping musical and artistic interests. Bloody Knives had a previously recorded album which they’d decided to shelve so we suggested that we take tracks from that record and rearrange them, add our own parts, remix them, and build something new," says Last Ice's Jeremy Wilkins, also of We Are Parasols.
When two already realized, competent and esteemed acts decide to not only collaborate, but keep exploring and fleshing out their out of the box creative thinking, the outcome ought to be nothing but captivating, and Last Ice's first is certainly that and more.
nomovementrecords.com
ZR