New Music: Charm School x INHALT – Desolation

Whether by accident or design, the meeting of Andrew Charm and Matia Simovich has given us the hard beauty of Desolation.

Charm, leader of Los Angeles No Wave/post-punk outfit Charm School, and EBM super-producer Matia Simovich of INHALT fame, find plenty of common ground with the expansive boundaries of the song.

Simovich has worked with the likes of Riki, Body of Light, and SRSQ in recent years, while INHALT often come at music from an EBM and Neue Deutsche Welle direction. It makes Desolation uncompromising in the spareness and efficiency of its beats, issuing a command to dance. It works alongside a Synclavier stab that punctuates the intro, a punchy quality that provides sharp relief to the sexual nihilism of Charm’s vocals and lyrics. The proto-acid bass line softens the edges a bit, but not too much, so that the track maintains its air of control as Charm hints at chaos and domination.   

October sees Charm School hit the stage in Louisville, Knoxville, and Los Angeles. Desolation is streaming on Spotify and Bandcamp. For info on Desolation and details of those live dates, hit up Charm School on Instagram.