Asylum Party - Picture One

Artist: Asylum Party

Album: Picture One
Release:1988
Label: Asylum Yield

Tracklist:

1. Julia
2. Together We Fall
3. Sweetness...of Pain
4. Before the Smile
5. White Light

Call me trendy, but recently I’ve really been getting into ‘80s goth/post-punk/coldwave and the like. Asylum Party are easily one of the best bands I’ve ever heard come out of the land of snootyness and baguette, and this EP is a gem perfect for the icy, grey environs of winter.

“Julia” was and still is a song that demands repeat listens the moment after it first graces your ears. It also sets the tone for the duration of the record-- the droney floating of the drum machine’s clicky ostinato, Cure-style chorused bass tones, dreary guitar melody, lushly ‘80s keyboards and the right amount of heart and coldness in the vocals. “Together We Fall” offers despair where “Julia” had yearning, honest love; “Before the Smile” is easily the best song on here with a bassline that sounds like a Faith outtake and a solemnly gorgeous chorus. Not even an awkard cowbell sample at every fourth bar of “White Light”’s verses can take away from its pleasant darkness. If you’re into the aforementioned genres  and are a quality-over-quantity person when it comes to songs and record lengths-- which, if you read ICDT, you probably are-- this is a crucial bunch of jams.

Download Here

-Asa