Listening to anything new by The Sea At Midnight feels like greeting an old friend now. The band might be a modern sonic venture but it is certainly a sound that is forged by standing on the shoulders of giants, and those giants were undoubtedly clad in black, sporting mirrored shades and had a penchant for drum machines.
Oceans is a cool collection of four songs, all infused with a post-punk/gothic vibe, weaving through territories first explored by the likes of The Sisters of Mercy and The Cure but always able to add more than enough to the mix to make it worth revisiting those sonic playgrounds.
If Oceans itself runs on brooding basslines and chiming, razor-wire guitars, Afraid Of The Waves adds some new elements to the mix and the result is both curious and Cure-esque. Atmosphere too explores some wonderful pop-goth pastures, driving on sultry dance grooves but as deep and dark as ever and I Can’t Wait is epic and euphoric, scintillating and full of energy.
A great new salvo of songs, but did we expect anything less? Well, I didn’t but then The Sea At Midnight won me over years ago.
