Throwing A Voice Into A Well

Model/Actriz “Slate”

“Slate” is essentially a song about unrequited love performed with the life-or-death intensity of horror, from Cole Haden’s breathy and desperate vocals on down to Jack Wetmore’s guitar, which sounds like frantic metal clicking, and not much like guitar at all. Model-Actriz’s music mostly sounds like a fresh take on industrial to me – all harsh mechanical tones, unrelenting grooves, and strong suggestion of both vulgarity and sadomasochism. They often sound like they’re trying to channel “March of the Pigs” and “Closer” simultaneously, with Haden bringing an erotic charge and overt sensuality to their most brutal and abrasive music. It’s clear enough in “Slate” that lust and violence overlap quite a bit for Haden and as much as the song expresses a deprived and distressed mindset of someone who knows they can’t have exactly what they want, they can’t deny their satisfaction in the submission and humiliation.

Buy it from Bandcamp.