Band: Lust for Nothing
Album: Lust for Nothing
Label: Sys2matik Records
Members: Michael Sky – Vox, Guitars
David Sky- Live / Bass Guitar
Neko Sky-Live / Drums
https://lustfornothing.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/LustforNothing/
Great new EP of Philly based Michael Sky of Sys2Matik Overload called Lust for Nothing. It’s a short album, 4 songs, but it has some real burners here and it is something you haven’t heard before. As someone who does a bit of this himself I am a total sucker for music that greatly contrasts the lyrics and vocals. This album really casts a night and day picture between the dark intense topic in the lyrics, and the bright fiery energy of the music. Sky doesn’t have a beauty to his voice. It is dark, deep, rich and really holds a rough sad edge. It’s odd, off-putting even. Yet it holds a true gothic bygone ring in the lower register. You can feel the emotion in his driving monotone chant. A bit of Ian Curtis and Peter Steele with a hint of an accent I keep waiting for him to say “Listen to the Children of the Night, what beautiful music they make” The lyrics call out of love lost and clinging hope. It is endurance and strength in the face of a bleak world. It is the sound I now associate when I think of Philadelphia. I spent a lot of time on the vocals but again the true uniqueness of this band is the musical contrast. These songs are bouncy, light, reminding me of The Church. They dance and fill your mind while Michael ties iron chains around your wrists. The push and pull of this effect is both unnerving and captivating. The keyboard lines are a beautiful anthem chorus and the bass lines are a driving pulse of an over excited heart. Neko’s drum parts are crisp and fierce and an ever present piece of order in this emotional tale. The songs really range widely in style but Sky’s ever present voice ties them together in a continuity that makes sense out of the chaos. There is a coolness factor to this music. You know the real deal when you hear it and this band sounds like they look, like they are. It makes the music ring true. Nothing I love the sound of more than genuine emotion cut down to the bone and blasted through an amplifier.
Stand out tracks could really be any but I’ll speak to a few.
Almost Anything – Holy shit this song sounds like the greatest club hits from Erasure or Yaz. The keyboards are entrancing and lovely. The rise and swell. They tickle and drive. Then Michael’s voice drops and it’s a heart wrenching cry. He would “Give you almost anything of what he had to face” I find myself at a lost with how to compare this feeling. Almost like the Mysterian’s 99 tears in how what you are hearing and feeling separates from the lyrics and messenger.
One Last Goodbye – When the music starts if I didn’t know better I would think I was hearing pop punk from the 90s. It’s warm, it’s welcoming, the drums are pounding away. Then Micheal comes in with a beautiful lilting series of lines about hope in the face of desolation. “We cried 100 tears between us, I hope you enjoyed the show” It’s an anthem and I want to pump my fist and cry at the same time.
This EP was too little for my taste. I wanted 10 songs of the enormous range and possibilities. However it is always better to leave them wanting more, and I definitely want more. Get this album. Rock it in the morning after a night spent too long in abuse. Howl at the moon with it and dance. I’m really excited to get a chance to play with this band and watch the energy of a crowd feed off of them. They are raw, they are real, they are Philly goth made flesh.
