Alexander Leonard Donat is a man of many moods. With his project Vlimmer he unleashes poetic dark wave with gorgeous melodies and Gothic undertones. With Fir Cone Children he gives us beautifully constructed pop in the spirit of Robyn Hitchcock and Guided By Voices. Whatever non de plume Donat is creating under it’s always exciting, engaging, and acquires your attention.
His latest project, Assassun, has Donat in a kind of moody EDM mode. Part frenetic electronic, part trench coat-wearing romantic, and all in-your-face post-punk attitude. It’s like Gang Of Four, The Fall, and Wire from the 70s took a time machine to 1985 and discovered a drum machine together. It’s typically brilliant Alexander Donat.
Donat recently released Assassun’s debut EP titled The World I Will Leave, and now he’s readying the full-length titled Sunset Skull, which arrives on Blackjack Illuminist Records on 3/11. Today Complex Distractions is happy to premiere the latest single “Devours Itself”, a jagged stab of electro post-punk.
Touches of dark wave permeates “Devours Itself” as it’s electro stabs open the track. But then Donat comes in with a barking vocal as opposed to his more melodic delivery with Vlimmer and Fir Cone Children. Touches of Mark E Smith and Gang of Four’s Jon King come through brilliantly, while musically we’re treated to touches of early 80s hard electro like Killing Joke and Love and Rockets. While this is definitely a new direction for Alexander Donat, this is the work of an artist with a firm grasp of who he is. Brilliant stuff.
Listen to “Devours Itself” below, and grab Sunset Skull via Blackjack Illuminist on 3/11 here.
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