HALLOWS release "Talk to Me," the first single from their next album

The darkwave project HALLOWS released a new song today called “Talk to Me” and revealed plans for their forthcoming album, A Quieter Life.

“Talk to Me” is built on a skittering electronic beat that lays the foundation for the band’s lithe vocals and vibrant synths. Around the two-minute mark, the beat pauses for breath and blasts off into an electro-pop anthem with spacey, dynamic synth riffs.

This is the first track we’ve heard from HALLOWS’ sophomore album, A Quieter Life, which will be out August 31, 2023. The album’s cover art, which you can see below, depicts a couple in bondage gear seated at a table—a somewhat cheeky juxtaposition with the album’s wholesome title.

Here’s what HALLOWS says about the new album:

A Quieter Life is a reflection on the complexity of relationships in the modern age, where loneliness prevails though we are connected to the world at any give time. The album explores the difficulty of feeling in a world that is sterile and bleak.

The last time we heard from HALLOWS was in 2021 when they released their debut full-length, All That Is True, which explored the emotional journey of existing in an unjust world. The two members of the band witnessed first-hand the brutality and unrest that took place in Seattle the previous year. The album included a menacing and unsettling single called “All That Is True Dies” that I included on my list of the best songs of 2021.

Since the first album’s release, HALLOWS has relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles. The duo, consisting of Vanee Dusoruth and Dom Rolando, got its start in Minneapolis in 2019. They are uniquely gifted at wringing sonic tension from their vocals and synths, and notable for incorporating both male and female lead vocals.

You can find “Talk to Me” on Bandcamp and Spotify.