EM_LEN – Winter Formal

No Dancing with the Norm: EM_LEN Escapes Winter Formal

When I hear the open­ing bars of "Winter Formal", I'm instantly trans­por­ted back to the early 80s. EM_LEN's highly elec­tron­ic sound is strik­ingly remin­is­cent of Depeche Mode's naive, son­ic exper­i­ments in their early days. But any­one expect­ing a mere retro copy is sorely mis­taken: I recog­nize a second, deep­er lay­er, skill­fully woven in – one that's sig­ni­fic­antly more influ­enced by dark wave and has a mod­ern feel.

The track opens with a cool, mech­an­ic­al aes­thet­ic and an indus­tri­al sound that serves as a con­stant back­drop, sup­port­ing the entire struc­ture. Amidst this icy back­drop, the vocals sound some­how dis­tant and detached. This isn't meant neg­at­ively at all; for me, this oth­er­worldly voice fits per­fectly into the over­all mood. Lyrically, EM_LEN explores the feel­ing of nev­er fit­ting in – the escape from the "Winter Formal", while one's own time is already per­ceived as "deceased." A fas­cin­at­ing bal­an­cing act between techno influ­ences and goth-influ­enced decel­er­a­tion, which stub­bornly lodges itself in the subconscious.

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Lyrics of "EM_LEN – Winter Formal"

Counting bod­ies
No-one knows me
Watch with new eyes
No conforming

Listen closely
You're not like me
Words are poison
Tis, the season

On the dance floor
No-one but me
Try to keep time
My time's deceased

I thought I knew you
I kept it normal
I thought I knew you well
I ran away from the Winter Formal

On the dance floor
No-one but me
Try to keep time
My time's deceased

I thought I knew you
I kept it normal
I thought I knew you well
I ran away from the Winter Formal

Counting bod­ies
No-one knows me
Watch with new eyes
No conforming