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Great Pagans’ Shimmery Sadness Will Soothe Your Soul

Great Pagans Gazelle Twin So Pure

Great Pagans took their name from “a well-thumbed copy” of Dante’s Inferno so it makes good sense that they walk the sonic line between melancholy and contentment. The Brighton band formed in 2012 around the songwriting of frontman Alex Painter, co-founder of the Anti-Ghost Moon Ray label and collective alongside noisenik Gazelle Twin (her “Belly of the Beast” landed on SPIN’s Best Songs of 2014, So Far). Heard on “So Pure” below, Painter’s floating vocals cast a yearning spell over a wistful haze of cathartic noise. It’s a refreshing mix no doubt colored by Great Pagans’ penchant for recording in unusual spaces, including churches and cluttered basements on either side of the Atlantic. There’s a bit of Bowie in the mix, and also a touch of the sort of florid eroticism explored by the likes of Wild Beasts. “So Pure” will land on the debut album, Cupid in Error, out October 20.

Cupid in Error track list:

1. “December”
2. “So Pure”
3. “Happy Now”
4. “Tangled Up In Chemistry”
5. “Silver Tongue”
6. “The Life You Wanted”
7. “Just Like My Father”
8. “Rest Assured”
9. “Berlin Idiot”
10. “From Scratch”
11. “Breathe”