- Flick through the rails at Urban Outfitters and you'll probably find Passarella Death Squad T-shirts on sale, but you're just as likely to hear their dark, gothic electronica oozing from the shop's speakers. Danny Broddle and vocalist Emilie Albisser started in music before branching out into fashion. Their latest EP of ethereal, late-night melancholia has already received support from Perc, Photonz, Daniel Avery and James Holden.
You can imagine Holden massaging "Anthem" into one of his eclectic, witching-hour sets. It wraps an arpeggiated motif, like the one from Frankie Knuckles' "Your Love," in gauze then dresses it with a sad synth drone and a dull bass throb—then it's gone, far too early. "Just Like Sleep" maintains a sense of foreboding, but this time with Albisser's vocals brought to the fore, a bewitching lament to a backdrop of martial snares and trance-inducing electro pulse. PDS name-check the Cocteau Twins and Velvet Underground as influences, but there's more than a hint of This Mortal Coil's "Song To The Siren" here. It would be a brave but devastating addition to any early-hours dance floor.
TracklistA Just Like Sleep
B Anthem