I don’t remember where I first heard The KVB (Kat Day and Nicholas Wood). It was probably BBC 6 Music, but I remember immediately thinking, “Who is that?” within a few moments. Their blend of electro, shoegaze, and John Carpenter film score riffs grabs your attention right away, and their newest album, Of Desire, is a great introduction to them if you’ve never heard them before now.
“White Walls” starts with 1980’s no wave synths and somewhat distant vocals about Nicholas Wood letting a lover leave while he stays inside to do some self-imposed penance for saying some things he regrets. The synths soar and click in beautiful waves. I don’t know what will get you to like this band if this opening track doesn’t.
Peter Hook-like bass creeps throughout “Night Games.” It sounds like something Snake Plissken would be playing in his glider flight in Escape from New York. “Lower Depths” is a goth gem, both lyrically (“Don’t want the light. I see the inside. I’m lost in a hole. My head’s on fire.”) and musically with its industrial guitars, programmed simple snare beats, and synth drones. “Silent Wave” reminds me of the Knight Rider theme at first, but it’s Knight Rider with KITT being a hearse instead of a Trans Am and the hero being a 1980’s goth computer hacker instead of a guy who’s a pop star in Germany.
“Primer” is an instrumental appetizer for the lush “Never Enough.” It’s almost the opposite of “White Walls” (but the deep synths and shoegaze guitars remain the same), as Wood has now flipped the table on his lover who has ruined everything. “And it’s all too much, because it’s never enough. And it’s all your fault as it slips away,” he sings.
I’m pretty sure “In Deep” is about a ghost waiting for its lover to die so they can be together again (“Being here, not living, I see it brings you down. And I’m trying hard to help you, but I feel I’ve come too late.”). The synths are bright like the afterlife, but the electro-bass is rooted to the Earth. “Awake” brings back the John Carpenter soundtrack feel, and it’s a great song for dark nights, dark car rides, or dark rooms. “V11393” is a cool instrumental that has probably been remixed across industrial clubs across the world by now.
“Unknown,” a song that has Wood wondering about the future as he lies in bed with his lover, has some of the loudest guitar on the record, but it knows when to move out of the way and let the synth bass take the forefront. Another good instrumental, “Mirrors,” leads into “Second Encounter,” with floating synths and clear guitar that makes you wonder if the song is about a relationship coming to an end, death, heroin, depression, or all of the above.
Of Desire is aptly named because every song on the record is about lust, love, loss, or regret. It’s a gorgeous record and actually inspired me to buy DJ gear and begin making electronic music again. Let it inspire you.
Keep your mind open.
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