debdepan – ‘LOVERS & OTHERS’ review

What does debdepan sound like?

If Tom Vek survived the delights of a rundown coastal town, and the secrets told in the nightclub’s women’s toilets.

The review of ‘LOVERS & OTHERS’ by debdepan

Margate is a seaside town in the UK that offers up a treasure trove of rock bands, and debdepan is one of them. The duo live for the crossover between dark pop with nods to 80’s electronica, that’s been drowned in alt-rock guitars. On their new EP ‘LOVERS & OTHERS’, we get an exciting glimpse into their seedy, sassy, and grubby world of rock.

‘The Girl’ opens the EP with a stomping beat that straddles indie pop and alternative rock, whilst the guitars go hard for the chord-chugging chorus. The guitars bend in a leery, gothic manner, and the song feels dark and dangerous whilst keeping the glitter on with the peppy drums. For ‘Oh No’, debdepan plays with a warped guitar amp that’s been damaged into a hollowed-out fuzz. The guitars slink and slither their way around the vocals that remind me heavily of Ladytron and Daughter. There is a street-wise, detached quality to the vocals that the filtered guitar noises emphasise. As the song lives in dissonance, there’s also an overtone of “comeuppance” that rides through the lyrics and distortion, too.

‘Habit’ is where debdepan really crosses over indie pop and grunge rock. It’s the single that introduced me to the duo, and it remains the catchiest and most immediate track on the release. Between the razor twang of the guitar riffs, the whatever talk-singing of the choruses, and the electronic bass line throb, we have a dancefloor rock anthem. Tom Vek fans would appreciate the sleek dance rock that ‘Habit’ provides. Its main riff is ripe for TV and advert placements, too.

‘Blue’ takes the indie pop into a grittier synth rock angle. Whilst the drum loops are part Popcorn, part rock, it’s the bass synths and keyboards that turn this rock track into a slow-motion rave. As the guitar solo rings out, a slow rave of fiery, fuzzed synths blasts out, drenched in echoes. It’s a catchy track, yet far heavier than ‘Habit’ and sounds like a distant cataclysmic event. The final track, ‘Ghost’, leans into dance grunge. The main vocal hooks playfully use reverb to shout out single words that ring out like shocked screams. The b-movie synths act like theremins on steroids over the top of the rubbery guitars and disco rock beats. It’s another banger, and one that sounds cleaner in production compared to a few of the other grungier-sounding tracks on the album.

Across the EP, debdepan create catchy riffs and hooks that draw you in, but they don’t shy away from their rock roots. These girls love their guitars and dark undertones. Yet mixing the dark rock in with electronic beats and indie pop sensibilities creates a sound that you could dance and have an existential crisis to at the same time. How efficient! I also appreciate how, whenever debdepan goes for an obvious killer riff, they do something else that’s far less trodden. It prevents the duo from feeling that they’ve crossed into pop rock, and that they stay indie and a bit feral. I’m all for feral when it cranks out bangers like these.

Recommended track: Habit

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