Curses
Another Heaven
Italians Do It Better
Another Heaven is sharply distinct from the last LP we got from Luca Venezia’s Curses, 2022’s Incardine. Sure, that record had a fair share of post-punk in it, but that was mixed in amongst the funky yet still dark italo and giallo-styled darkwave we recognized from Venezia’s remixing work, and tunes like “Miriam” and “Made In Shade” took a brooding and sober approach to the style. Another Heaven being so marked by a dreamy and at times upbeat approach to post-punk would have given us pause were it not for factors like Venezia’s established bona fides as a crate-digger and stylist and the presence of Italians Do It Better and Chromatics impresario Johnny Jewel behind the desk.
That context sets the stage for Another Heaven‘s disarming moves and style. It’s not really accurate to call a record which does so much with intimation and subtle shading of tone ‘surprising’ or ‘shocking’ in the traditional sense, but the fine line between the advance and retreat of Venezia’s vocals, between composition and production, is not an easy one to walk. But it’s one that Curses tread here and in a range of styles, from “H2SG”‘s Talk Talk-esque wistfulness to the early New Order/OMD melancholy of “Vanish” (a collab with Skelesys who released a similarly melodic and shimmering LP some weeks ago) to the rushing cinematic pulse of closer “Helium”, with some spoken word from Marie Davidson connoting early M83.
The strategy of releasing almost half of the album in a stream of pre-release singles (each with all of the previously released tracks appended, effectively leading to a four track EP circulating a month before the album) had mixed results; the range of the record was well-established by the time it was out, but some of the understated elegance of first single “Elegant Death” feels dulled after having heard it so many times appended at the back end of later singles. For those coming in fresh, its spectral lilt will still be entrancing, an ideal combination of Venezia’s weary croon and Jewel’s ethereal touch.
And then of course there’s the title track, which swiftly became my feel-good jam of the summer upon its release in May. Seven minutes of pastel-smeared DX7 bells, orch hits, and electro breaks, it’s Book Of Love heading to Westminster Abbey to perform a Handel anthem, and no other piece of synthpop released this year sounded half as divine. It alone would be worth the price of admission, but bracketed by the delicate restraint of the rest of the record only underlines its strength as a part of Another Heaven‘s winding path through roads less travelled.
