Generation Maximum by Culk

Darkwave and its associated aesthetics feel omnipresent right now, but for the most part the revived version of these sounds haven’t extended far beyond their original iterations in the goth, new wave, and industrial scenes of the past. To find a band that’s integrated these sounds into something broader, we turn to Austrian indie band Culk and their new record Generation Maximum. Immediately, the infusion of indie rock songwriting sensibilities shakes the straightforward dance tropes out of the darkwave sound, and from there the band introduces dashes of noise tones and jazz chords to encourage a further departure from the worlds of both indie and darkwave. Lyrically, this record recounts Generation Z’s experience of climate change, describing the sensation of being thrust into a problem perpetrated by past oligarchs as the world pretends to turn to us for answers. Meanwhile, the increasing velocity of natural disasters, crop failures, and resource conflicts haunts our generation’s collective consciousness like a deeply reverbed industrial drum kit or a dreary guitar picking out an unresolvable arpeggio.