Dunkelselbst - Killing Time

I'll be honest: up until the time of this review I have never heard of or listened to Anne Clark in the past. But, doing some digging on the artist, it's quite clear that she has a repertoire within the electronic scene. Associated with such acts as Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys, her credentials are enormous and her spoken-word style phenomenal. 'Killing Time' is a 1987 song that appeared on her album "R.S.V.P.". The reason for this discussion is that post-industrial project Dunkelselbst has taken it upon themselves to cover the song. as their debut single, Dunkelselbst is able to crank out wonderful instrumentals but sorely lacks in the lyrical department. 



The original version of 'Killing Time' is a breathtaking and almost minimal synth track that allows Clark's clean and powerful vocals to come through. A constant, high-pitched synth runs through the song as soft drum pads balance the act. Dunkelselbst's cover of the track takes it into industrial territory by providing dark and glitchy bass drops in place of those drops. Noise textures take over the background and an overall gloomy feeling takes over. Around the three-minute mark, further experimental nodes compliment the song that, for some reason, reminisces sci-fi horror to me. However, where Dunkelselbst fails where the original succeeds is in their lyrical delivery. Rather than the clean, powerful, and emotive delivery Anne Clark brought out I am instead given unintelligible and distorted vocals. They don't completely ruin the song but they do otherwise slaughter the power of spoken word vocals.

I think that if Dunkelselbst would have taken a different route with their vocals, the cover would have been superb. The instrumentals are dense and impactful, which contradicts the original's minimal output. Nonetheless, the wicked synths Dunkelselbst crafted are wonderful. I do believe that the instrumental section, however, outweighs the negatives brought on by the vocals. Therefore, I give this cover a six out of ten. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Oct 04 2021