Danse Macabre
The old saying goes that if you pretend to be something long enough, you'll eventually become it. If this is true, then the men of the Faint must have spent a lot of time between their rocking debut album,Media, and their third full-length,Danse Macabre, practicing theirDuran Duran,Cure, andDepeche Modeimpressions. In the process, they have become all that is, was, and probably ever shall be good about new wave music, combining arty electronics with smart social commentary to create an album that is sublime in its ability to recall more goth-rock times while still coming across as entirely original. Songs such as "Posed to Death" and "The Conductor" take on sounds of the band's contemporaries--in these cases,Marilyn MansonandDaft Punk, respectively--but their doing so seems rooted in clever reclamation of new wave sounds appropriated by current artists. In making angular, passionate, and hypnotic music, the Faint are not out to give a history lesson but rather to move a languorous generation of indie kids. And whether mentally or physically or both,Danse Macabrewill do just that.--Sarah A. Sternau