The Curtain Society
Life is Long, Still (Bedazzled)
by Angela Dauthi
It took me a long time to understand what DC label Bedazzled was all about. At first I thought they were some watered-down, wimpy Goth label that put outs light-hearted, albeit moody, albums. However, it soon became clear that what they were doing wasn’t really Goth, no matter how much it may sound like it. Case in point: The Curtain Society. All signs point to Goth – medium to slow tempos, a fondness for waltzes and ballads, mournful and minor key melodies, thin buzzing guitar leads, heavy on the reverb, the works. But give it time, delve into Life is Long, Still. At a certain point, it becomes obvious that they aren’t even trying to be Goth, they’re just making emotionally strong music that, although at times sounds like old Cure, is really just a new sprout on the tree of Rock and Pop. Many influences from ’80s New Wave and pre-Goth are obvious, but The Curtain Society doesn’t steal it and put on airs, they probably just listened to it, and it came out in their music. Songs like “Je Regrette Rien” are more akin to one-chord trance rock than anything else. Okay. Enough about what they’re not. They have sonic connections to Spiritualized at times, to Pet Shop Boys (without the drum machine) at others. Simple (but not simplistic) layered Pop/Rock, melodic point and counterpoint sitting on a bed of warm reverb, soothing and distressing your mind in the same note. Music that’s sensual and lonely at the same time. The songs on Life is Long, Still are only a few steps away from cheezy radio-fodder Pop, but somehow The Curtain Society manages to avoid all of that by throwing in the layers of guitar that swirl around your head like friendly bees. Track 9, “Idiotgrin,” is just a short interlude, but it’s got this cyclical drum groove matched with a slightly spastic synth short circuit melody that fades in, confuses you for a moment, and then fades out. I just thought you should know. Otherwise, I wish Life is Long, Still had come with lyric sheets. Sometimes they croon so hard, the words are lost, and you’re just left with vowels and syllables.
