The Silent Era’s latest single is a wonderfully poignant musical journey that is stirring to the senses. Touching on punk, noise, and shoegaze, ‘Oscillations’ is sonically provocative enough to warrant a deep and passionate dive into its countless layers.
⇒ The Silent Era on Bandcamp ⇐
The Silent Era is a London-based outfit and ‘Oscillations’ is their 5th single release, which will be on their album Wide And Deep And Cold, out November the 1st, and they are having an album release party on Halloween (Thursday, 31 Oct). The 4-piece are certainly brimming with musicianship, capable of practicing such fruity restraint as to make ‘Oscillations’ a wonder to experience.
First and foremost, the song’s harrowing, cavernous reverbs make the listen a cathartic one. The steady, powerful groove courtesy of Jo Eiffes is taking a very prominent role in the mix. A stiff backbone that supports the song’s cacophonous, noise guitar part of Chris Schwarten, and the submerged, gigantic bass line from Nicolas Zappa.

But there is surely no talking about ‘Oscillations’ without talking -Ok, basically drooling- about the soaring vocal delivery from frontwoman Bri Macanas. A truly capable performer, Macanas’s performance is weighted and balanced, delivering short melodic lines in the verses, which are more laid back and low on musical information, only to head into a devastating rampage of belted melodies during the song’s stirringly emotional choruses. Not necessarily meant to be catchy, The Silent Era are going for a much more profound impact on the listener that harkens back to Muse’s first 2 albums in their classical undertones and unbound melancholy. Bri Macanas has a voice to match, and the band has the vision to make something that truly stands out.
For a song about repeated patterns in toxic relationships, ‘Oscillations’ will face no resistance being on repeat for many listeners. That chorus is simply too good to not be replayed over and over again.