Narc. Magazine Online
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The prolific purveyors of synth pop and darkwave sounds bring their show to Newcastle
Image by Liz Wendelbo
Prolific purveyors of synth pop and darkwave sounds, Xeno & Oaklander are currently airing their back catalogue of minimal electronics and cold wave inspired music on a world tour that’s due to visit Newcastle’s Lubber Fiend on Thursday 20th October.
For the uninitiated, the Brooklyn-based duo of Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride have been creating uniquely icy tunes and expounding their love of analogue synth sounds for almost 20 years, and are as prolific and creative as ever. Songs from last year’s Vi/deo album attempt to melodically convey the nature of synaesthesia – scents and perception of the world via obsolete technologies – presents an immediate melancholic canvas over which the pair dab liberally with shining cinematic moments. Half remembered noir movie backdrops and soundtracks, with flickering tunes catching the ear, dreamlike.
Xeno & Oaklander world-build with their sound, creating an aural experience designed to be absorbed into the human core. What better way to do this than as part of a crowd of like-minded souls’ eyes fixed forward, transported into the ether of a collective womb, like a dream of witnessing the mothership in Close Encounters. Expect intimacy, fantasy and bittersweet reverie.
Xeno & Oaklander play The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle on Thursday 20th October.
