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ROMANCE

A KISS IS JUST A KISS

Romance cups our hearts again with a second volume of screwed ambient, crumbling harp loops and smeared 80s ballads that reinforce that uniquely gilded/old Hollywood take on hauntology. It sounds something like Vangelis and Badalamenti smoked into vapor trails by The Caretaker...

Romance once again unfurls gossamer strands of ambient-pop and screwed ‘80s ballads across two long sides that remind us of Malibu/DJ Lostboi, Leyland Kirby, Pinkcourtesyphone, Werkbund or WIlliam Basinski - this time cutting deeper into the ether with a waking dream-like journey into the sweet hereafter, where once-grandiose strings, brittle harp loops and voices echo into a shimmering wash of sound.

'A Kiss Is Just A Kiss’ is a sort of ephemeral elegy for the crumbling facade of old glamour, dialling in faded grandeur with the uncanniness of Richard Chartier’s Pinkcourtesyphone, or the way that Leyland Kirby’s overlooked solo volumes hint at and augment motifs and feels from blockbuster soundtracks. Suppose it’s fair to say the key is the name, as Romance does what Romance is, following instincts for an elusive sort of beauty that feels like a singular pursuit of the sublime in a way that also reminds us of Wolfgang Voigt’s earliest GAS exploits or even Michèle Bokanowski’s recently re-surfaced score work - evocative of faded memories in a way that’s impossible to articulate outside of music.