New Music: They/Live – The Path

With a name inspired by the cult 1988 John Carpenter sci-fi/action film, you might expect They/Live (Whitney Mower) to reflect the music of that era. On The Path, they do, but there’s a lot more to the track than celebrating the past.

The Utah-born musician takes the vocal skill and passion of a Holly Dodson or a Kate Bush, mixes it with a dash of Italo, and a hint of the brooding sounds of Carpenter Brut to deliver a masterclass in electropop. One of the most difficult things to get right about this sound is to reference the past without being in debt to it. The Path does that in spades, not only in the subject matter of the lyrics but also the crispness and warmth of the production and arrangement.

The Path makes references to Mower’s exodus from the Mormon church. As she puts it: “The Path is a song about reclaiming agency, taking control of one’s identity, one’s beliefs, and one’s body.”

They/Live’s The Path is out now and available to stream or download on all major platforms, including Bandcamp; you can get more details here. Be sure to check out They / Live on their Facebook and Instagram socials for news about the Ablation album, which is due out on the 8^th of May 2020.