Altered Zones

Altered Zones is proud to present the title track of Xeno & Oaklander's forthcoming Sets & Lights LP, which drops October 11th from New York minimal synth/coldwave stable Wierd Records. On the heels of their excellent, Repulsion-inspired video for "The Staircase," this second single affirms the New York duo's penchant for Baroque chromaticism, economical beat-programming, and mining the gap between camp romance and deep existential uncertainty.

The electrifying call-and-reponse between Sean McBride (Xeno) and Liz Wendelbo (Oaklander) doesn't just sound straight out of a rock opera set in the late '70s of Bauhaus and Christian Death; it describes a world in which life has become indistinguishable from performance. "The theater, the stage, the sets, the lights," intones a characteristically deadpan McBride against Weldelbo's soaring, crystal clear soprano. "The players who weary every night. They slash their arms, they slash their eyes." "Sets & Lights" is as flamboyant as it is restrained, and its underccurent of despair is all the more palpable because it never quite bubbles over the surface. --Emilie Friedlander, Altered Zones

MP3: Xeno & Oaklander: "Sets & Lights"

Sets & Lights LP is out October 11th on Wierd Records