Double Echo "☾"

 ☾, the fifth full length studio album by Liverpool and New York-based band Double Echo on Fabrika Records in 2021, requires no words. Only a simple crescent moon symbol is necessary, a bright entity in the night sky to illustrate its contents. Members Ash Lerczak, Chris Luna and Ellon Souter approach the new album with a pure pop mentality littered with dark undertones. It is synthpop sweetness with an edge, a glittering dream of neons and city lights... but not without the foreboding sense of danger ahead. After the success of their single "The Bairn"—a song worthy of Anne Clark's rhythmic lacerations—☾ is an extension of that same mood of 1980s pop music with a pout, sullen but sure in its delivery. The ten tracks are primed for the clubs, reminiscent of the chilly and eerie melodies of Numan and Sharpe, or the synthpop accessibility of Celebrate the Nun or, further, new wave darlings Thompson Twins. However, post-punk guitars peek in at times to add a dismal atmosphere, much like t