North London-based group Black Doldrums release their debut album, Dead Awake via Fuzz Club Records. Originally a duo founded by Sophie Landers (drums/vocals) and Kevin Gibbard (guitar/vocals) but now recently fleshed out to a trio with Matt Holt joining on bass, Black Doldrums deal in a dark, shoegazing psych that melds gothic post-punk with a leather-clad rock’n’roll spirit. Produced by Jared Artaud (The Vacant Lots, Alan Vega), the Dead Awake LP arrives following two sold-out EPs (most recently 2019’s ‘She Divine’), tours around the UK, EU and US and praise from the likes of Clash Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Louder Than War, Shindig and more. Having already cultivated a die-hard following in the psych underground, Kevin and Sophie set to work on their long-awaited debut album in 2020.

The more collaborative effort of Dead Awake finds Black Doldrums switching gears and adopting a cleaner, more precise creative approach than that of their earlier material. The result is an album that feels colder and more stripped back – the effects are still there but stripped down to their fundamentals so that the songs themselves take precedence over any wall-of-sound deliria.