She Past Away - Disko Anksiyete

She Past Away’s international success has been no fluke: 2019’s Disko Anksiyete (which translates to “disco anxiety”), the third LP by the band, is just as heartbreaking and impactful as ever. It’s been four years since the release of their album Narin Yalnızlık, and SPA returns with a synth-soaked, sorrowful offering from Turkish artists Volkan Caner and Doruk Öztürkcan. With worldwide tours and recognition, SPA has established themselves as dark darlings, a favorite to fans with their live performances and with songs that are now classics during peak club night hours. 

This time around, they’ve injected an arsenal of synthesized choirs and strings—an additional element of impactful melancholy and dance floor heat—into their specific darkwave sound. Despite their ability to keep those with dark propensities dancing all night, Disko Anksiyete deals with the anxieties and desperations that can be found on the dance floor. It is the age-old dilemma of missed opportunities and fateful meetings that can be found in the fog-filled area under the spotlights. This sentiment, combined with the pulsating beat, create a tension that She Past Away has always thrived on. 

“Boşluk (Intro)” begins the album with a funerary march as a continuation of their sorrowful, lonely journey. Here, the post-punk guitars connect SPA’s previous albums and introduce the next chapter of the band. It’s followed by the crescendo of “Durdu Dünya”—an intense wave of emotion through its epic synth lines and addictive beat. It instantly became an dance floor favorite. “Disko Anksiyete,” a track that retains the same danceability, proves that the prominence of the synthesizer within the LP creates a velvety, luxurious state of melancholy. With “Izole”—which in English, translates to “isolation”—the band centralizes on a life of solitude and the pain that comes along with it. The song “La Maldad” introduces Caner’s first venture into lyrics that aren’t sung in Turkish. The Spanish-sung song is upbeat and a step out of their comfort zone, perhaps a new angle of She Past Away that has yet to be completely uncovered.

However, “Renksiz” jerks the listener right back to moroseness, as She Past Away delves into a paranoia that is developed in the synth-drenched melody. “Sonbahar” is rife with sadness as “Girdap” reflects that sentiment except with Italo-disco elements in the percussion and the brightness of synths—they blend so well with the mournful guitar that a sliver of hope shines through the gloom. As is traditional for SPA, “Yükseliyor Deniz” (translated to “rising sea”) provides a yearning, a plethora of swelling emotions that never subside. Finally, “Ağıt” wraps up Disko Anksiyete with cinematic choral voices, a sincere welcoming to the familiarity of darkness that the duo grasp so well. With disco elements that revel in anxiety, She Past Away recognizes their place within the darkwave milieu: to keep people tearful on the dance floor, awash in their own personal dramas, fantasies, and miseries.

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