California-based duo Porcelain Pale concoct gauzy waves of lush electro-pop, reminiscent of Twin Shadow’s starry-eyed dramatic tribute to the ’80s niche. Porcelain Pale self-produced their debut release, Insomnia Mixtape Vol. 1, and its lo-fi but stunningly atmospheric sound is wholly representative of quality bedroom pop — without the mundanity. “We both came from a crappy part of California that is basically spermicide for creative types,” one half of the duo, Andy Carrillo, says. “We were in a lot of really crappy bands and sort of randomly got together last October, bought a bunch of random stuff from Craigslist, and just sort of locked ourselves in a room and started writing until we had something we liked listening to.”
The result is a tidy showing of Porcelain Pale’s nocturnal prowess, whether on the glistening arpeggios of “Agoraphobic Winter Blues” or the woozy spacey crawl “Imaginary Drifter”. The opener, “Rapid Eyes and Restless Minds”, serves as a proper introduction. Porcelain Pale initially start with a nonchalant drum loops and a placid bass line, as the weeping vocals ascend in emotion over re-occurring spurts of guitar. The production may not be as sharp as Chromatics or Twin Shadow, but Porcelain Pale have a similar grasp of the approach. Once their production catches up with their ability to churn out haunting atmospheres, Porcelain Pale could be making big noise.
