Kevin Bronson on November 2nd, 2016

1

The debut EP from L.A. goth-pop quartet Brass Box dwells hallucinogenically on our inevitable end, and the complications we endure along the way: being lost, feeling longing, bridging the chasm between hope and reality. “Dreams make no promises only death does,” frontwoman Amberlie “Ammo” Bankoff intones in the title track to “Ivory Skies” (out this week), a four-song outing drenched in waves of guitar and reverb that could easily be titled “Dark Side of the Cocteau Twins.” Bankoff has flown these sonic skies before, in the dark shoegazing outfits Tête and Black Flamingo, and her new songs were realized after she reconnected with an old friend, guitarist Neil Popkin, himself a devotee of various strains of post-punk music in such bands as War Tapes, Rituals and Dreamland. The duo is joined live by Matt Bennett (War Tapes) and Pablo Amador (Rituals). At their strongest, Brass Box’s murky sonics meld perfectly with Bankoff’s imagery — “Trees dance in the lonely fog / Held down by living so long,” she sings in “DDM” — and the band’s miasma of sound peaks in the EP’s closer, “Roses.” There, we’re reminded that “angels of death … [have] been waiting all this time for you.” So … happy All Souls Day?

||| Stream: “Ivory Skies” EP

||| Live: Brass Box celebrates their EP release with a show Saturday night at Vega’s Meat Market, joined by Wendy Bevan and Twin Temple.