There's something compelling about music that sounds like it's bursting at the seams. Black dresses are masters of barely contained chaos. It seems that all their records can turn into pure noise at any moment. But never before have they weaved the various strands of their sound—glitchy percussion, powerful guitars, irresistible pop choruses—together so skillfully as on Forever in your heart.
Canadian duo Ada Rook and Devi McCallion create something undeniably catchy from abrasive electronics, metallic percussion, death metal screams and off-key trills. Opening track “PEACE SIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” jumps out of the speakers with such viciousness that the riff practically trips over itself before breaking into a groove-heavy shoegaze verse. When the riff returns, Devi screams, “Can we make something beautiful without hope?”
Both Ruka and Devi's screams are explosive, but nowhere is that truer than in “Silver bells” Midway through the song, after a particularly melodic section backed by Pretty Hate Machine-style synths, Rook rips apart his vocal cords as he delivers the lines:
I'm tired
I'm out of breath
I'm afraid of everything that's left
I just want a little tenderness
But tension and despair
That's all we ever get
The performance is so intense that Devi even intervenes to make sure her friend is okay. It's a moment of levity in an album that can often feel dark. But it's also likely driven by genuine concern for Ada's larynx.
“Silver Bells” gives way to the glitchy mid-tempo “Ragequitted” and the lo-fi indie rock of “Waiting42morrow,” which offer a respite before the slower “Gone in an Instant,” which culminates in a more vocal production from Rook.
Lyrically, the album is filled with feelings of alienation and self-hatred. People who “don't even remember she was in their lives” and Rook states, “I'd like to be a fake so people would hate me, the fake.” Heavy themes can feel clunky in less experienced hands. But the lyrics, which explore the pressures they face as trans women, are balanced with moments of hope. At the end of Paradise, Rook finds beauty and recognizes that there is a way out of the darkness.
And all the broken creatures
Perfect just the way they are
But it's easy to get discouraged
When you don't know who you are
And the album even ends on a vaguely positive note, with Devi saying, “I couldn't help myself, but it's not that bad” at the end of an almost power ballad.”(Can't) keep it together“
The production throughout the record is also impeccable. Musically, there's rarely a dull moment. The kick drums are so powerful they shake your spine even through your headphones, glitchy synths dance in and out of the mix, and guitars come to life in unexpected places. The chaos extends not only to the sound palette, but also to the song arrangements themselves. Despite the obvious hooks, Black Dresses don't seem particularly interested in the standard verse-chorus-verse song structure.
