August 3, 2012
Electric Corpse’s Dark Shadows by Brett Callwood Gothic songs from the pain of loss Think “goth,” and images of Anne Rice-era vampires (pre-Twilight) and black leather-clad bands such as Bauhaus, the Sisters of Mercy and Alien Sex Fiend will often come flooding forward. The word became a cliché in the music world long before it became unfashionable, with black mascara and black lace gloves the order of the day.  But to many, those overplayed images had little to do with the gothic art that is in turn romantic and devastatingly sad. Look at pre-Raphaelite art and, while the skin is pale, the eyes are not smudged with black and nobody looks like a Robert Smith-style death-mime.  The dark, poetic lyrics of Nick Cave and even Morrissey, certainly Kate Bush, capture that feeling beautifully — that Wuthering Heights (book and song) feeling of having love within your grasp and having it torn away before drowning in a sea of grief. A group of twentysomethings from Detroit called Electric Corpse has that aesthetic down pat. The trio of Matt Galanek (vocals, guitar), Megan Marcoux (keys) and Laura Abbruzzese (drums) played together in a six-piece alt-rock band called A House in Paris, but it proved too big to keep together. Galanek and Abbruzzese decided to play out as Electric Corpse, later bringing Marcoux back too. (For more, click the picture)

Electric Corpse’s Dark Shadows by Brett Callwood

Gothic songs from the pain of loss

Think “goth,” and images of Anne Rice-era vampires (pre-Twilight) and black leather-clad bands such as Bauhaus, the Sisters of Mercy and Alien Sex Fiend will often come flooding forward. The word became a cliché in the music world long before it became unfashionable, with black mascara and black lace gloves the order of the day. 

But to many, those overplayed images had little to do with the gothic art that is in turn romantic and devastatingly sad. Look at pre-Raphaelite art and, while the skin is pale, the eyes are not smudged with black and nobody looks like a Robert Smith-style death-mime. 

The dark, poetic lyrics of Nick Cave and even Morrissey, certainly Kate Bush, capture that feeling beautifully — that Wuthering Heights (book and song) feeling of having love within your grasp and having it torn away before drowning in a sea of grief. A group of twentysomethings from Detroit called Electric Corpse has that aesthetic down pat.

The trio of Matt Galanek (vocals, guitar), Megan Marcoux (keys) and Laura Abbruzzese (drums) played together in a six-piece alt-rock band called A House in Paris, but it proved too big to keep together. Galanek and Abbruzzese decided to play out as Electric Corpse, later bringing Marcoux back too. (For more, click the picture)

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