Judging by the handful of photos on Occult X‘s Instagram profile with his Cro-mags t-shirts and his more or less grim attitude, he could easily be pegged as the frontman of a loud skate hardcore punk band or a dreary baritone darkwave solo project, instead of drawing, with a minimal set up of mechanical beat machine, bouncy bass, synth wash, and brittle shimmering 6-string chords, that intensify and somehow illuminate the reverberated vocals lost in a dense mist of pain, a sheer distillation of beautifully disturbing sadness.
Nashville, Tennessee Dream Punk one-man-band Occult X has managed to attain, in just a space of 4 singles over the year, a striking and moving balance of heartfelt emotional intensity and songwriting prowess.
“Love” wanders in a captivating yet disturbing haze of repetitive brisk, off-tempo rhythms, tight, serpentine bassline and a spider web of glistening and wistful reverb-tinged guitar shimmers, that hypnotically expand and gently pierce sad, dreamy male vocals, arousing tension and melancholy, into an excruciating distorted release of love.
Passions, dreams and illusions dissipate like smoke in the wind, unlike “Love” that will linger around you over and over again.
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