Chosen by Monk
To say that twin sisters Emmalia and Sarafina Bortolon-Vettor are fascinated, obsessed if not haunted by death, and are wrapped up in its darkly cold embrace, would perhaps be the singular biggest understatement of the year so far, as the latest album from this Canadian darkened shoegaze/post-punk drone project is all about the subject – not in the macabre, violent, or outrageous sense, but as you or I might know it: a spectre lurking around the corner, capricious, indiscriminate, unexpected, ordinary, and all the more terrifying for it.
Inspired, largely, by the passing of their Nonna Maria – who provided interstitial narration across the band’s early work – Sarafina, the band’s singer and lyricist, has described the album, ‘Mourning You’, as being about “losing someone you love… the horrors of grief, haunting you every day”.
The second single to be lifted from the album, ‘Hellmouth’ evokes the gnarled claw of remorse gripping you in twilight’s terror. “I see you in my dreams every night,” Sarafina intones. Were it not for Emmalia’s blown-out Stratocaster, you might mistake those words for the chorus of an old doo-wop standard. The track launches off as a woozy siren song, before pummelling you with anthemic power chords for Sarafina’s self lacerating chorus: “drag me to hell and back I go”.
Every reminder of what once was, feels like a sharp sword, the sisters comment.
But, even in the darkest moments, there’s always a path towards love. Remembering the warmth of their smile, as you scrape your nails towards the surface…
- ‘Mourning You‘ will be released on 28 February via Hand Drawn Dracula.