Beauty In Chaos - Dancing With Angels
With their fourth album 'Dancing With Angels' just a breath away (it's out on July 24), LA-based collective Beauty In Chaos throws open the gates to the darkwave realm, sharing a stunning music video for 'Holy Ground'. A lush offering that features the unforgettable vocals of Patrik Mata of seminal darkwave band Kommunity FK, this marks a thrilling departure from BIC's signature goth rock / postpunk sound.
Formed in 2018 by guitarist Michael Ciravolo (formerly of Human Drama and Gene Loves Jezebel and currently President of Schecter Guitars) with Grammy nominated producer Michael Rozon (Ministry), Beauty in Chaos is a revolving evolving sonic entity. To date, BIC has involved numerous luminaries from The Cure, Ministry, Cheap Trick, The Offspring, Gene Loves Jezebel, Marilyn Manson, Human Drama, Bauhaus, Nine Inch Nails, Van Halen, A Flock of Seagulls, dUg Pinnick (Kings X), ICE-T, guitar icon Zakk Wylde, Rolan Bolan, among others.
“I love swinging the pendulum as far opposite as possible from our previous video. I think “Holy Ground” faithfully captures the sights and sounds of the great mid ‘80s darkwave scene that revolved around Los Angeles’ famed Scream club. This was such a great time in music. This is when I actually first met Patrik, as we shared several bills with them when I was a member of Human Drama" says Michael Ciravolo.
Both Human Drama and Kommunity FK appeared on Geffen’s 1987 'Scream Compilation’, with the latter gaining well-deserved fame for their MTV and club hit 'Something Inside Me Has Died’. Patrik Mata is currently working with Dave Roberts (Sex Gang Children) in a new project, called Kult Children Ov The Damned.
As for the story behind On 'Holy Ground', Patrik Mata shares, "A Watcher, a Supernatural Being, descends upon the planet below. He became transfixed, curious, & seduced by the women & Earthly pleasures & mysteries found. Ever since The Beginning this Being roamed the Earth creating Nephilim. What seems like an Eternity, The Being becomes a Fallen Angel, jaded, decadent, & tired having used & having been through every Earthling on the planet. The Fallen Angel shares its interpretation ov how this planet used to be considered Holy Ground, but now it is not. The only thing that The Fallen Angel yearns for is to return back Home. Back to The Gate.”
Released via 33.3 Music Collective, the 'Dancing With Angels' album cements BIC's legacy for crafting captivating and imagination-stirring music with eight diverse, riveting tracks on offer. Michael Ciravolo explains, "The title was inspired by a painting from a talented German artist Maren Platzhoff, which also became the album’s cover. As Michael Rozon and I began writing the music for this release, I knew I wanted to blend artists from our first two releases with some amazing new members to our BIC family".
This eight song release features BIC alumni Ashton Nyte, Holy Wars firecracker Kat Leon, and both Wayne and Cinthya Hussey. Ciravolo shares “I love bringing in ‘less famous’ but certainly no less talented artists to the fold, and I think this album does just that”. Leo Luganskiy (Strangelove), Julian Shah-Tayler (The Singularity), former Silence In The Snow frontwoman Cynthia Isabella, The Bellwether Syndicate’s William and Sarah Faith, and Patrik Mata (Kommunity FK) bring immense and diverse talents to 'Dancing With Angels'.
Ciravolo describes this album as sort of a "sonic regression and a sonic progression", noting “I meant this as a positive thing, taking some of the post-rock elements of our debut album, the stark dark bits that run through ‘The Storm Before The Calm' and the gothy dreamy-gaze of 'Behind The Veil’. It was definitely going a bit backwards to take a few steps forward!”
Speaking of going forward, this album in its CD format includes something that Ciravolo has long wanted to do... joining the songs together with musical interludes, which he has dubbed ‘Halos’. Ciravolo explains, “These are unique soundscape interludes that sonically tie each song together, along with the album’s coda. I do have this… probably unrealistic romantic idea that the listener will give this album at least one top-to-bottom uninterrupted listen”.
The album's lead track 'Diving For Pearls' features The Mission's Wayne Hussey and Cinthya Hussey, his wife and partner in Archeometre, accompanied by an overlapping-reality video, created by Vicente Cordero / Industrialism Films, The ‘single version’ was mixed by legendary producer Tim Palmer (The Cure, U2, David Bowie, Robert Plant, HIM, The Mission). Hussey's fourth BIC collaboration, Ciravolo says this “may just be the best we’ve written together”.
‘Diving For Pearls' is currently available via Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify, and is also available as a limited edition CD single. As of July 24, 'Dancing With Angels' is available on limited edition multi-color vinyl and CD from the Beauty In Chaos store, as well as digitally. The first 100 vinyl copies come with two posters signed by the artists. Vinyl and CD purchases also include the full digital version of the album (with Halos and two bonus tracks).
