Dark Seas
Sample Fuzz, 2021
9/10
The duo that is The Pink Dust returns with another batch of tunes, where Roy Mitchell-Cardenas (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums) and Cliff Littlefield (vocals, bass, guitar) wrap their curious brand of alt-rock around dreamy, ambient, even otherworldly gestures that rarely stay in one place very long.
“What’s This Love” starts the listen with plenty of atmosphere as synth sets the mood and ethereal vocals enter the beat friendly, cosmic playfulness, and this approach continues to the swift and melodic indie-rock meets electro-pop of “Evermore”, as well as the hypnotic and buzzing “Innersine”.
Further down the line, the upbeat and jangly “Static” flirts with New Wave and dream-pop in charming ways, while “All I’m Thinking”, the album’s best, offers a busy, alt-rock influenced landscape of pop, prog and ‘80s nods that you won’t forget anytime soon.
Closer to the exit, “Daydreams Are Dying” leads bare, mysterious and even ominous as a sci-fi presence enters the creative song craft, and the title track exits the listen with warm acoustic strumming before building into a loud, thundering space rocker in its brief but majestic delivery.
A listen that will appeal to fans of synth-pop, post-rock, and various degrees of exploratory rock sounds, The Pink Dust continue to defy classification, and we’re all better off for it.
Travels well with: Hiatus- Dancer; Drifting In Silence- Away