Black tape for a blue girl

Given where Black Tape for a Blue Girl began over thirty years ago with founder Sam Rosenthal’s exploration of brooding, extended electronics and strings meshed with deeply revealing lyrics and darkly textured, melodramatic vocal performances, it’s striking to see his muse and inspiration reach a new peak with his recent 13th albums (The Cleft Serpent). The neoclassical, gothic and dark ambient stylings that made the band one of the originators of American darkwave are in full force on this recent releases.

Rosenthal’s pensive electronics and revelatory songwriting has made fans of director David Lynch, former adult actress Sasha Grey, writers Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan. Supporters of the music regularly tell Rosenthal that it was the emotional and personal connection to the music they felt during times of stress and personal crisis that knit them to the band’s moving sound.