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WIDESCREEN MELODY, BRUTALISM WITH A BEAT
Silent Star are a coldwave/synthpop duo from London whose “sparkling, soaring synth waves” embody “the rhythm of concrete walls”. They amassed close to 200,000 plays on YouTube after being picked up by Young & Cold Records, who took the band under their wing on the back of the success of their self-released debut single Star Of The Sea. The label released Silent Star's first 12" EP, The Cross Of Stamford Hill, which was followed by another single, The Estuary Shore — the first fruit of their work with Y&C producer Daniel Hallhuber. This spring they release another, The Cold Now, a duet with the Terror Bird singer and Sally Dige collaborator Nikki Nevver, featuring mixes by Hallhuber and the Antipole associate Paris Alexander.
The band have toured Europe twice, most recently with labelmates Videotraum and Terror Bird, and in London have headlined the legendary goth night Slimelight and have supported Xeno & Oaklander, the KVB and M!R!M.
REVIEWS
"Silent Star make easy sonic comparisons to Clan of Xymox, Joy Division, Marc Almond and Psyche, but the lyrical subject material has equally introspective bedfellows with fellow poet historians The Divine Comedy and Frank Tovey. The stark sound of Silent Star is emotive of the monolithic Brutalist style – underestimated and overpowering" - post-punk.com
"A perfect combination of bass guitar, drums and synthesisers, and a perfect male vocal . . The duo transpose the properties of modernist architecture into music. Its basis is a strong rhythm, a modernist derivative of symmetry" - Wave Press
"Maybe most impressively, for a genre which often rests on a certain disaffection, there’s an arch sense of play and real personality here" - idieyoudie.com
"Soothing, soaring synth swathes glow and expand into airy depth defying textures cut in rambunctious rolls and steady dance beats marching hypnotically through sparkling electronic swirls" - whitelight-whiteheat.com
The Cold Now is Silent Star's third single and features Nikki Nevver of the band Terror Bird dueting on vocals. Nevver is a long-term collaborator with Sally Dige and was part of the first wave of the North American coldwave resurgence with her genre-defining album All This Time.
The release will also feature a remix by Paris Alexander, the Antipole associate who has remixed Hante and She Passed Away, and by Young & Cold, the producers of Sixth June and Rosegarden Funeral Party.
Patrick from Silent Star says: “The song is about retribution, division and dismay, which was a shock to me because when I wrote it it was actually about drugs. But sometimes these things are out of your control,songs develop a life of their own and you just have to respect that. I’m not sure where the references to Stalin and Eamon De Valera came from, but they really make the song work.
“Musically, the leitmotif lead synth was written on piano using the technique that Chopin mastered in his Études – it's the essence of the romance pianists. Alas, I stuck a thunderous bass line on there and crashing drums, so you can’t actually hear any of the piano nor the synth, but I think it does Poland proud, regardless.
“What really makes the song is Nikki’s vocals.We first met when Silent Star played one of the goth club nights that Nikki runs in London. Nikki wasn’t actually there, but the language she used on the invoice for damage to the dressing room really struck a chord and I knew I wanted to work with her in the studio (on music).
“Terror Bird also somehow agreed to do two European tours with us – the last with Videotraum on the bill too, and they really can be trusted with dressing rooms, no matter what the Czech instructions on the fridge say.”
“For the recording and production, we went back the approach used on our first single, Star Of The Sea, and did everything ourselves, largely because I’d forgotten how soul-crushingly awful an experience it is to do everything yourself. We also filmed and edited the video ourselves. It had to be done in black and white because I’d drunk way too much before filming and my eyes and nose had gone red.”
INTERVIEWS
JOYZINE: MY LIFE IN 10 SONGS
"Electroclash was the pinnacle of music. The greatest marriage of dance and melody"
ABSOLUTION: DJ LADY DAVINA SPEAKS TO SILENT STAR
"Spend your later teenage years driving endlessly and aimlessly around Thamesmead at night, you probably won’t write too many party singalongs after that"
REVIEWS: THE ESTUARY SHORE
POST-PUNK.COM: A SUBTERANEAN LOVESONG
"The video for The Estuary Shore brings to mind the work of Anton Corbijn with its stark contrast and sweeping landscapes"
SANCTUARY.CZ: A LOVE SONG TO THE LONDON UNDERGROUND
"The rivers that still flow under the city ... their existence can be traced through the footprints they left in the landscape"
REVIEWS: STAR OF THE SEA
WHITE HEAT // WHITE LIGHT: VIDEO OF THE DAY
"Soothing, soaring synth swathes glow and expand into airy depth-defying textures, cut in rambunctious rolls and steady dance beats"
WAVE PRESS: THE RHYTHM OF CONCRETE WALLS
"A perfect combination of bass guitar, drums and synthesisers, and a perfect male vocal"
REVIEW: THE CROSS OF STAMFORD HILL EP
I DIE - YOU DIE: TRACKS OF THE MONTH
"Maybe most impressively, for a genre which often rests on a certain disaffection, there’s an arch sense of play and real personality here"
REVIEW: TO HELL OR TO HACKNEY
WHITE HEAT // WHITE LIGHT: MODERN DYSTOPIC COMFORT
"Anguished and exhausted heartfelt vocals, shouting to be heard, through an overwhelming, intoxication of violent city vibes"
This is the first song we’ve worked on with Young & Cold Records and was recorded and produced in their studio in Augsburg, Germany, by Daniel Hallhuber
It is a love song for subterranean London — specifically the many buried rivers that still flow beneath the streets, anonymous and forgotten, but whose existence can still be traced, sometimes through the marks they have left on the landscape, sometimes through the streets that still bear their names, and very occasionally when they can still be heard as they pass through the drains and below manhole covers. The song tells the story of the attempt to find them.