Venus In Leo
by HTRK

From MadhattanJack 01/06/2026 03:05 | #312481

I've seen a lot of terms used to describe this duo, like "muted dreampop," "eerie and gothic," "slow burning," "dark-ambient chillwave," "timeless yet modern ennui," "beautiful gloom," and so on. "Dream diaries faded with age and rain" is one from their own self-descriptions, but it's accurate. I've also seen comparisons — "like Cowboy Junkies without the cowboys," "Sadé on Ambien," and "Portishead, only less so," and I suppose all these are accurate too, to some degree. The main thing for me, though, is that this is the first album they've recorded where they really seem to know what they should sound like. Part of that is probably because it was the first one they recorded in their home studio, so they had more time to fine-tune, but either way they've largely abandoned the distracting overtones and occasional bits/bursts of electronic noise from their earlier albums in favor of atmospheric effects that make sense for what they're trying to accomplish. I don't think they want to put you to sleep; it's more like they're trying to provide the musical equivalent of alpha waves for your brain, and they do a pretty good job of it. So while I generally tend to prefer stuff that's louder and more beat-oriented, to me this is their best album so far — the one after this, "Rhinestones," is also good but not quite as musical somehow, despite what Boomkat.com says.