4 out of 5

Label: Golden Antenna Records

Produced by: J. Robbins

Both expanding on and tightening the sounds from their debut single, Ryan Patterson’s Fotocrime carve out their own darkwave take from the rubble of moody synth tunes from decades passed by smoothing out any overly anachronistic quirks. That said, the band’s sound is still very much owing to those black-clad goth rockers: a very processed and light low end supports shimmery guitar lines, and Ryan’s late-night monotone, with occasional background support from the ghostly-voiced Janet Morgan. But the prioritizes melody and mood over posturing, which is what allows their personality to come through, with lyrics effectively taking us on midnight tours that flirt between bleak or obsessive thoughts, but erring toward a bit of light and hope. This thus allows the leather and gloom cast of Fotocrime to be a bit of a lark: Principle of Painis pretty poppy. …Which is good; the songs land and last.

J. Robbins seems an odder fit as we move away from rock, but he really finds the band’s sound, and it’s a surprisingly gentle one. There are big moments, but they carress – they don’t cut. And this all works because it’s consistent, and because the tunes are damn catchy.

But: the window for this exact style is, if not narrow, not wide open; there are some attempts at adding modern affectations into the mix, and it really doesn’t work. The electro pop of closer The Soft Skin is the worst culprit; when these bits are fleeting, it’s fine – it’s only the one or two songs where they are primary elements that it can be distracting. At the same time, these aspects could be someone’s favorite part and I’d get it; if the band subsumes this into their already polished approach, I can see the next album as really being something special.