Dead & Company GD60 at Golden Gate Park Polo Fields — Concert Review
- Butch Weaver
Bebaloncar is a musical entity that drifts between new wave and dark psychedelia, shaping a visionary sound made of hypnotic guitars and obsessive melodies. Conceived by guitarist/vocalist Scanna of Italy’s indie scene, the project is completed by Iris Martyr on guitar & backing vocals, bassist Fab, and in the studio Carlo Altobelli on percussion, synthesizers, drum machine and sampler.
With two albums released to date — 2022’s Suicide Lovers and last year’s Diary of a Lost Girl — their third album Love to Death is scheduled for release in October. As a preview, the band has dropped two singles from the album: “Words” in late July, and most recently “Dead Street.”
“Dead Street” is self-described by the group as born in the borderlands, blending dark vibes and ‘cine-delic’ moods, caught between a black past and a hopeless future. Obsessive beats, raw vocals, heavy riffs, and the dry, haunting echoes of the desert; a dead-end street with no escape and a sonic journey with no return.
The single begins with Scanna and Martyr’s electric and acoustic guitars in an illusory minor key, soon joined by Scanna’s melancholy baritone and Fab’s circular bass line. The desert vibes and droning vocalisms on this track are evocative and reminiscent of Tim Gassen’s vocal work with the Marshmallow Overcoat, borrowing from Jim Morrison’s Strange Days era with The Doors. While the song intensifies with a hypnotic guitar lead over Scanna’s singing, Altobelli seems to be absent on this track which contains no audible synth, drums, nor percussion, presented as a drumless trio similar to their live format.
The forthcoming album’s first single “Words” which dropped in July starts with a quicker pace, guided by presumably Martyr’s acoustic guitar and a more hopeful major-driven theme, still sans drums/percussion. The vocal lines are delivered more confidently on this track by Scanna, who looks upward moreso than on the shoegazing “Dead Street.”
With Love to Death scheduled for release in October, “Dead Street” and “Words” provide an alluring tease of what is to come. This reviewer hopes for the recurring addition of Altobelli’s synth sampling, drum pads and/or percussion on the to-be-released tracks to complete the full four-piece studio ensemble in anticipation of the album’s impending release.
— Bill Kurzenberger
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