Silent Age - Display
Meet Silent Age, Chicago’s new wave post-punk outfit. They just dropped a new album, entitled Display.
Silent Age
Made up of former members of Population, a hardcore punk group, the band includes Patrick (vocals), Brian (synths), Benny (bass), Vinny (guitar), and Julian (drums). Silent Age is anything but hardcore punk, traveling down the path of dark, dreamy, new wave rather than the aggressive pummeling pressure of hardcore.
The band’s name – Silent Age – comes from bassist Benny Hernandez’s interest in the old movies of Charlie Chaplin.
Display comprises 10-tracks, beginning with “World On Fire,” which opens on radiant, jangly guitars and streaming synth colors. A buff rhythm composed of Benny’s dazzling touch on the bass and taut percussion infuses the tune with infectious momentum. Patrick’s voice, smooth and flavored with elusive timbres, is reminiscent of The Cure’s Robert Smith, only more expressive and aromatic.
From a purely subjective viewpoint, entry points on the album include “No Games,” riding a chunking, chuffing shuffle, as coruscating synths bleed vibrant colors overhead. The metallic burnish of the guitar colors the harmonics with tantalizing actinic sparkles.
Display is a confection of elegant colors, some pale as snow, others as dazzling as incandescent light augmented by halogen.
“Scattered (Never Let Me Go) travels on beguiling spangled hues and gossamer flows of energy, almost orchestral-like in their textured suffusion. The dreamy new wave melody oozes rippling washes of sonic filaments as Patricks’ trancelike vocals imbue the lyrics with nuanced tones. “Icesun” is my personal favorite because of its palpable, glimmering textures, along with Patrick’s haunting, intimate vocals.
The last track is “Complex,” and the title is apt, as the melody encompasses complex intricate layers of shimmering harmonic colors flowing on protracted undulations. Slips of lustrous accents inject washes of spilling pigments in the backdrop, soaking the tune in sheens of brilliance.
Display is a confection of elegant colors, some pale as snow, others as dazzling as incandescent light augmented by halogen. In the final analysis, Silent Age has produced an alluring new wave album of both charm and imminence.
