Yves Malone
Golden Twilight of the Black Sun [CS; A Giant Fern]

We move closer and closer to the scenario that the larger musical world woefully dodged decades ago: with the synth resurgence comes the opportunity to bridge the avant with the popular. Some artists are inching closer to find that magical formula, where synthesizer doesn’t just become a boring melodic trope along the lines of Falco or Flock of Seagulls, but it’s a thin line. Yves Malone is finding the right forward momentum. Golden Twilight of the Black Sun maintains an experimental brood throughout its length, and yet there are moments of pure pop bliss that weave in and out of its dark motif. Malone is wise to keep track length succinct (nothing eclipses the 4 minute mark), yet the album’s fractured tracks flow elegantly into each other to tell a larger story. While 7 rather brief songs may seem confusing to people who prefer such grand thoughts clustered into 15-20 minute exercises of will, Malone has the right idea in the short attention span theater of pop pulp. Yes, arguments can be made that such exercises stretch our patient muscle but sometimes, we just want that indulgent snack of pop-sized bites. Here it is, with a lot less calories but certainly not lacking the rich textures and fulfilling umami of synth’s best experiments.

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