The Organism - New World

ARTIST: The Organism

ALBUM: New World

LABEL: Self-released

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 05-11-07

Bucking the trend for polished gothic music, The Organism take the opposite approach with a debut album built on a skeletal structure of vintage-sounding analog electronics. Somewhere between goth's early experimental side and the UK scene's dark industrial pioneers, tracks like "Angels of Fashion" and "Skin of Light" utilize simple, muffled drum machine patterns adorned with clanks and muted analog keyboards, while deliberately hollow vocals give things a distinct funereal atmosphere. While this sense of hopelessness works quite well on the retro post-punk "Seaward," the unrelenting gloom and lyrical monotony of "Darling" veer awfully close to unintentional parody. Much better is "Liquid Sky," which hints at early synthpop influences with its burbling keyboards while keeping things dark with a lonely electric guitar wail, and "All That Ends," which ties the slow, baritone singing with an equally deep and spooky piano line and adds to the gloomy ambiance with dissonant synth strings and sustained church bell effects. While The Organism's low-fi approach is a welcome reprieve from the overly slick approach of many contemporary bands, it might go far enough in the opposite direction to alienate potential fans. If you enjoy the dark experimental side of Attrition or even very early Cocteau Twins, though, you might find this worth a listen.

Visit www.theorganism.org for song samples.