Enchanted Mood
Destruction Time LP

With all things electronic inspiring Dempsey Ward and Emily Crossland, Enchanted Mood have crafted an album full of alternately dark, wired, and at times even upbeat synth-led songs (from Nine Inch Nails to Depeche Mode with lashings of The Cure and Human League thrown in for good measure).

‘Losing Time’ is typical of this ducking and diving style that gels really well while refusing to be totally stuck down. An electro-pop chorus is the main hook, interspersed between an urban-future greyscale verse.

One of Enchanted Mood’s strong points is completely off-the-wall drum sampling, which adds an insane element to tracks such as ‘Dangerous’, ‘Failure’ and ‘Don’t Panic’. The duel-vocal approach also helps to add texture to the songs.

Noteworthy songs include the opening track ‘Losing Time’, the bouncy ‘Velvet Sky’, darkwave ‘Paper Hearts’ and the reedy ‘Don’t Panic’.

If electronica seems to be a world full of black and white, perhaps Enchanted Mood (along with bands such as Scarlet Soho and Josh Doyle) are here to stir things up a bit with a sound that refuses to be pop, while overtly using hooky melodies and bouncing sounds alongside the quirky sampling and emotive lyrics of their songs.

Enchanted Mood

Written by Fenton on 10th August 2005

Steve Fenton writes in our music, words, and culture categories. He was Editor in Chief for The Mag and covered live music for DV8 Magazine and Spill Magazine. He was often found in venues throughout the UK alongside ace-photographer, Mark Holloway. Steve is also a technical writer and programmer and writes gothic fiction. Steve studied Psychology at OSC, and Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-1978 at the University of Reading.