NOIR - My Dear

A single is a great way for the label to introduce a new artist or to release a hit song for the public and DJ's. NOIR is the project of Athan Maroulis from Black Tape For A Blue Girl and has just been signed by Metropolis Records. 'My Dear' is the first release from this project.

However, "My Dear" is not a hit track. It's one of those tracks that falls straight into the "it's alright" category and will, by me, quite quickly be forgotten. The music is quite flat just becomes a noise that you can sing to. There's no great, nor highlighted, melodies to speak of. A beat and some blippety blopp. Even though the chorus has some potential, the verse follows the same flat path as the music. It all feels as inspired as the project name itself...

To no surprise, there's a couple of remixes of the track as well. Assemblage 23 does a great job tuning this track up a few notches with some very much Tom Shear sounding melodies. However, the vocals are doomed to be flat. Ego Likeness' remix is quite the mess and the old school electro influenced remix of ManMadeMan put some lightweight vocoding on the vocals in a try to fresh it up a little. The more dancy remix by Lust Murder Box & DJ Void is actually working pretty well, great beat and a very nice melody, still I get the feeling it's like forcing LSD into a semi-conscious body.

The B-side "A Forest" is actually the better track of the two. And that is a cover. It has a similar sound to what The Twilight Garden has, a kind of electo version of The Cure. It has a great guitar melody and a chorus that actually feels inspired. You can hear that Athan really can sing in the vocals, so why this great voice is not used in the rest of the track is quite a mystery.

If "My Dear" is considered the single material from NOIR, I'm not sure that I'm going to be too impressed by the debut album. However, one can always hope for surprises. Jan 07 2013