Breaking the eight-year silence that has slowly amassed since their 2006 debut, Austin post-punk indie outfit
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness finally deliver their long-awaited follow-up album,
Dust. Not every hiatus is the result of a dramatic series of events or even of a breakup. Albums are difficult things to make and sometimes bands just take their time. Such was the case with
ILYBICD, who slowly chipped away at their sophomore set of dark-hued alt-rock, letting their lives happen in the intervening years. When they felt the material was finished, they made an announcement and nonchalantly resumed their career as purveyors of dreamy, noir-ish indie rock anthems. Created once again with producer Paul Barker (
Ministry),
Dust is similar in tone to
Fear Is on Our Side, arriving as a logical sequel that bears elements of textured shoegaze and dusky dream pop, two '80s-bred genres that have enjoyed a revival in years since the band's first release. It could be argued that they, along with higher-profile bands like
Interpol and
Editors, helped birth this dark rock revival in the mid-2000s, then laid low as younger acts appeared to populate the indie landscape. Led by the dirgy, desperate rocker and lead single "Faust,"
Dust moves on to explore a variety of nocturnal sounds, from snaky,
Cure-ish creepers like "Safely" to the cold, jagged post-punk of "Walk Out." The morphine drip atmospherica of "You Are Dead to Me" and the downtempo closer "WAYSD" add to the album's midnight patina, but there's a lot of slow-moving material to digest here and casual listeners may want to take a hiatus of their own. Still, the things that people loved about the band in 2006 are still present, and
ILYBICD may find a more sympathetic ear among a new generation of enlightened young fans who have embraced
Joy Division as their new classic rock. ~ Timothy Monger