There’s something beautifully out of time about Dark Energy, the sophomore album from COOLONAUT, a Scottish-born, rural-Australia-based artist and doctor who self-records on an 8-track analogue machine and sings like the world is burning. Because, well yeah, maybe it is.
Following his album Tales From the Black Stump, Dark Energy throws us into far murkier waters. Dark energy stares into the storm of humanity’s unraveling. It’s both global and personal, angry and tender, dark and weirdly hopeful (we think?). In a phrase: psychedelic power pop with a pulse!
We start with “Stick to the Script,” and Coolonaut lets us know this ride won’t be neither smooth nor sweet. This isn’t retro for nostalgia’s sake, this is vintage gear channeling a very now sense of unease. The fuzzed guitars, warbly synths, and punchy drums form a gritty, analog wall of sound that feels deeply human, with imperfections baked in like fingerprints on vinyl!
Lyrically, Coolonaut writes like a doctor diagnosing the human condition. No surprise, when he’s not recording, he’s literally a doctor! That dual perspective, observer and healer, runs through the album. “Hey Doc!” sounds deceptively upbeat, but underneath the cheery hooks is a patient pleading for help: “Hey doc, can you help me now? I feel such pain, I know it’s not my brain.” The tension between vibe and message is surgical!
Standouts like “Babes in Arms,” “Innocent Until,” and “Killer in a Suit” cut closer to the bone. These aren’t just protest songs, they’re psychological snapshots of a world losing grip on decency, especially with everything that is currently happening in a multiple of regions, especially the Middle East. “Child of the Crescent Moon” broadens the scope further, with raw, lyrical honesty that is far away from being cliché.
Importantly, none of this is polished in the studio sheen sense. There’s no click track, no autotune, no post-production airbrushing. You hear the room. You hear the moment. That’s intentional. Coolonaut’s analogue ethos is as philosophical as it is sonic,capturing not just what was played, but how it felt.
Ultimately, Dark Energy isn’t here to comfort you. It’s here to see you. It’s an album that stares at the state of things, personal and political, distant and domestic; and dares to respond with grit, grace, and raw creativity. In a world numbed by overproduction and algorithmic gloss, Coolonaut reminds us that there’s power in being unapologetically human.
So yeah, Darkness is Psychedelia. And COOLONAUT is proof!
