The Silk Demise- The Silk Demise

Hailing from Toronto, The Silk Demise offer up sensual, stripped-down trip-hop on their self- titled debut. Combing the talents of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Bill Litshauer and lyricist/vocalist Olivia Zielinski, the band's sound falls somewhere between…say…Massive Attack and the moody trip-hop found on Akira Yamaoka's soundtracks to the later Silent Hill games. Blending sultry female vocals, occasional half-whispered male vocals a la Tricky, and music that emphasizes atmospheric sound with sometimes sparser melodic work, the album is an extremely competent and immaculately produced blend of dark, electronic-yet-organic trip-hop with a slightly experimental slant.

The disc opens with the atmospheric metallic loops and subtle pulsating bass of "Bound", a nice slice of moody trip-hop that borders Switchblade Symphony-esque darkwave territory. "The Garden" is the album's spectacular standout, moody piano cascading atop angelic vocals and a simple but particularly effective underlying minor progression, while "Lamia" is a haunting trip-hop sound collage with otherworldly female vocals bathed in eerie swirling atmospherics, scratchy loops, and slight dissonance. "Afterthought" is, perhaps, just that, providing a less memorable yet adequately brooding, intriguing offer that excellently fits into the flow of the album as Zielinski repeats "Heaven sinking underground" with breathy style.

"Corridor Fog", another standout and one of the most straightforward tracks on the disc, centers around a great bass line accented by simple piano and analog synth, while the following instrumental, "Silkshatter" is also incredibly captivating. "Sioux" takes a wobbly western guitar line and weaves an unsettling blend of dark electronics around it before the album ends on another strong note with "Morealis", its half-spoken-half-whispered male vocals and bouncy anchoring riff giving way to a more thickly layered ethereal chorus.

While a wee bit on the short side, The Silk Demise is a sleek and solid 34 minutes of remarkably good dark trip-hop that will likely please both fans of straightforward moody trip-hop and those that lean more towards the darkwave/goth side of the spectrum. With exceptional attention to detail and plenty of emotion, it's an impressive package that's certainly worth opening.