Words: Doug Wallen
Banner image: Spike Vincent

Melbourne darkwave romantics Venetian Blinds foreshadow the dread-inducing atmosphere of their upcoming debut LP with a new single centred on the thudding bass line and couched vocals of Phoebe Taylor.

‘Amazonian Goddess’ may be the fourth single released by Venetian Blinds, but it’s actually the first track they wrote together. Opening with an ominous rhythm section before adding skin-crawling guitar lines, foggy synth swathes and Phoebe Taylor’s (Bitch Diesel) notably ethereal vocals, the track is further cobwebbed with moody effects before coalescing at the end for a palpable sense of the uncanny. We can only make out certain lyrics – about “soft golden skin” and the way “darkness sweeps in like the promise of decadence” – but that simply adds to the mournful yet unnamed menace gradually gaining power throughout the track.

Self-produced at Soundpark with Melbourne recording veteran Andrew “Idge” Hehir at the controls and mixed by guitarist Liam Linley (Liam Linley and the Louvres), the self-described “dark-pop ballad” bodes well for the band’s nearly completed first album. It follows a similarly eerie string of singles in ‘Silent Killer’, ‘Blood Geranium’ and ‘Cheating’ since mid-2018. In just a couple years, they’ve already supported the appropriately shadowy likes of Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) and Miles Brown (The Night Terrors). They launched ‘Amazonian Goddess’ last week at a gig that doubled as a farewell for guitarist Diana Torres.

Listen to the new song below, ahead of the album release later this year:

BANDCAMP