Photo Credit: Joe Bannister
From the depths of the South London alt-rock underground a band has emerged who aren’t here just to play nice or make up the numbers. They’re here to drag you into their world of suffocating atmosphere, raw emotion, and rock n’ roll devastation. Their sophomore EP, Elements, is an emotional rollercoaster through the chaos of the human condition, an unrelenting dive into the depths of inner turmoil, wrapped in a package of searing alt-rock grit.
Opening with Die, Dead Air waste no time in setting the tone. It’s a haunting, visceral piece that sees the band grab you with both fists balled and refuse to let go. Frontman Reuben Moonasar delivers a performance oozing raw desperation, providing an audiobook to chronicle the existential horror of the afterlife with a voice that balances fury and fragility in equal doses, while the bass throbs like a heartbeat after downing a case of Red Bull.
Love And Patience brings a shift in tempo but no respite in tension. It’s the kind of track that creeps under your skin, building from an ominous whisper to a full-throttle assault on the eardrums. Lyle Salvatore’s guitar work is a masterclass in controlled chaos, flickering between reverb-drenched eeriness and full-on distortion-laden buffet.
Top track is unsurprisingly the one they chose as lead single. Violently Blue is a stunning collision of post-punk melancholy and grunge-era self-loathing catharsis. It carries echoes of early The Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains, but remains distinctly Dead Air with their own grunge-tinged spin. The chorus is massive with layered vocals, soaring instrumentation, and a tidal wave of emotion crashing through my headphones. “You’ve got a soul like mine / Blacker than black, bluer than blue,” wails Moonasar, who reveals the single is the exploration of “two beaten and broken souls who are plagued by circumstance. As one half unravels, so does the other, revealing the fragility of their new bond in the shadow of inescapable prior trauma. The outro, A different place / A different time, acknowledges how their bond could have been salvaged, if they only had the luxury of different circumstances.”
Closing track Breathe has Dead Air at their most imaginative and ambitious, stretching their sonic boundaries with a slow-burning build-up that eventually explodes into a musical tornado of reverb and layered vocals. It’s hypnotic. It’s haunting. It’s the kind of song that leaves you reflecting on what you just listened to long after the final note fades.
Dead Air are a band carving out their own space in the alt-rock landscape, armed with introspection, intensity, and a sound that lingers like a bruise.
7.5/10
Standout Tracks: Violently Blue, Breathe
For Fans Of: Alice in Chains, Manic Street Preachers
Written by: Eric Mackinnon
