Today, let’s go to France to discover the synthpop band Dark Minimal Project. Released on January 15, 2022, Cold Black Room, their first album, is available in digital format.
Dark Minimal Project sets the bar pretty high with their first release. We can see this right from “You Played With Me,” the first track of the album. With its careful instrumentation, its homogeneous sound palette, its harmonious melodies as well as its simple but effective structure, this song has everything it needs to arouse the curiosity of the informed music lover. Characteristics that are found throughout this album and that make it a pleasant content to listen to.
Of all the elements mentioned, the lead vocal is what caught my attention the most. Generally quite shuffling and nasal, which sometimes weighs down the track (especially in “The Girl Who Didn’t Know”), it’s very close to the listener in the mix which can be surprising at first. The interpretation of the text would also deserve to be more pushed in order to break this linearity of timbre and energy by giving it more accentuations, as we find in “The End Of The Day.” However, this is not enough pronounced.
Cold Black Room offers a nice panel of ambiences through its 9 tracks (the 10th one is a remix of “Next Life” which lacks a bit of reinterpretation and doesn’t go far enough from the original track). I particularly enjoyed the groovy, positive energy of “Maybe We Could Try” and its backing vocals that shape the timbre of the lead vocal. “Worksite” plunges the listener into a darker universe with its repetitive aesthetic that renews the musical discourse of the album. In contrast, “Broken Toy (Ilona’s Song)” is a much brighter song.
For all these reasons, Dark Minimal Project is now part of the bands that we will follow with attention. Like us, let your ears explore their sound universe by immersing yourself in Cold Black Room.
