Your Lovely Writing’s On The Wall

A Thousand Mad Things “Promises”

A Thousand Mad Things’ William Barradale wears his icy synth pop and goth influences on his sleeve, to the extent that his most recent singles sound like direct homages to Depeche Mode and The Cure. A lot of artists aim for this, but Barradale actually nails it on a craft level, emulating their particular approaches to melody rather than just over-indexing on the surface level aesthetics like most cold wave acts. “Promises” offsets the jauntiness of “The Lovecats” with an absolutely frigid synth arrangement, with Barradale singing wry lyrics about a torturous breakup in a classic handsome new wave voice. He’s not reinventing any wheels here, but he is making an exceptionally good wheel.

Buy it from Bandcamp.