What does PILOTPRIEST sound like?

Usually, moody synthwave. Now, we’re taking a darker tone.

The review of ‘Spring EP’ by PILOTPRIEST

A few weeks ago, PILOTPRIEST was announced as the composer for the latest Silent Hill game, Silent Hill Townfall. It comes as no surprise that ‘Spring EP’ acts as a prelude to a change in mood and tone for the synthwave artist. Gone are the textured rhythmic beats, and in are tapeworn pianos and cleverly layered ambience. It’s designed to make the listener feel uneasy and uncomfortable, yet there’s a delicate gothic beauty to the EP, too.

‘Spring’ opens the EP with an intensely thick and depressive piano-led piece. The piano is worn, wobbly, and tape-chewed, and backed up by numbing hues of distant synths. The textural synths sound like distant sirens or traffic. They sound like warnings, but beautifully wrap around the main melody, whilst vinyl spits and hollow space ambience blooms into distant chaos under the surface. ‘Hate comes easy’ is a textured piece that starts with a distorted piano riff, before being backed up by strange tin can and metallic percussion. The piano’s chord progression is out of tune. As it creaks in over strange industrial dust noises and a moogy, corrupted synth bloom, it gives a Silent Hill 3/4 vibe perfectly. The closing track, ‘through glass eyes see the future’, is a haunted gothic hymn. At just over a minute, PILOTPRIEST interplays piano, strings, synths, a choir sample, and a distorted industrial scream to create a thick, mechanical symphonic cry.

This EP is a mood. The sound is darkly comforting, in a numbing, wallowing way. It is the perfect misery pillow to give in to all the sad emotions you have. PILOTPRIEST has managed to create an isolation tank of sound that you’d want to embrace and never leave. This is exactly the kind of thing a Silent Hill atmosphere requires, and I am extremely excited to hear where PILOTPRIEST takes this new direction, not just for the game, but for anything else they release after. There’s always been a moody tone to PILOTPRIEST’s synthwave electronic music. This submerges us in its lethargic misery fully. Captivating.

Recommended track: Spring

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