Initially cutting their teeth in Central Coast Hardcore and Punk bands, Australian unit Procession, comprised of instrumentalist Jarrod Birch and vocalist Gavin Barrett, shifted to experiment with a not less dangerous but certainly more sinister Dark Synth-driven sound, through a scorched fusion of Post-punk, Synth-Pop, Dark Wave and everything in between, as last year’s debut 4-track Self-Titled EP gave a tantalizing glimpse of.
The duo return in 2023 with the haunting and gripping vocal epic of the new single “Pressure” via Brisbane-based independent label Team Glasses Records, released digitally and physically as a limited run cassingle.
“Pressure” explores the complexity of finding one’s own way through a dystopic millennial life, whilst, music-wise, drawing cues from the synthetic sounds of Kraftwerk, Joy Division and Cold Cave.
Introduced by both buzzing and quivering, unsettling cinematic atmospherics, erratic and evolving rhythmic patterns turn from steady crunchy clapping beats to an urgent surge of crisp punchy percussions, up to the final stirring poignancy of hypnotic heartbeat kicks and supportive tinny hi-hats, by creating an erratic and dynamic bed for a swirling and resonant array of uncanny tinkling chilly key loops, glaring synth drama and murky droning bass throbs, around emphatic, intense, and emotional baritone, to drop excruciating mental pain into a broken headspace of foreboding moods, chanting hopelessly at last, ‘I’m cracking under pressure.’
Less than 6 minutes of stalking doom-laden mesmerizing vocal angst encompassed in a chiming and hypnotizing surreal synthetic orchestration.
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