is the Verge’s weekend editor. He has over 18 years of experience, including 10 years as managing editor at Engadget.
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There’s something irresistible about music that sounds as if it’s coming apart at the seams. The Black Dresses are masters of barely contained chaos. All of their records feel as if they’re in danger of collapsing into pure noise at any moment. But never have they so expertly woven the various threads of their sound — glitchy percussion, pummeling guitars, irresistible pop hooks — together as they do on Forever in Your Heart.
The Canadian duo of Ada Rook and Devi McCallion crafts something undeniably catchy from abrasive electronics, metallic percussion, death-metal screams, and off-key warbling. The opening track, “PEACESIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” jumps out of the speakers with such viciousness that the riff basically trips over itself before settling into a groovey shoegaze verse. When the riff returns, Devi screams, “Can we make something beautiful with no hope?”
Both Rook and Devi’s screams are explosive, but nowhere is that more true than on “Silver Bells.” Halfway through the song, after a particularly melodic passage backed by Pretty Hate Machine-esque synths, Rook shreds her vocal chords, delivering the lines:
I’m tired
I’m out of breath
I’m scared of everything that’s left
I just want some gentleness
But tension and despair
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