Listen Up! No. 99: Architects of Grace - Reflection

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The brainchild of 30-something media professional Duncan Robert Illing - an admirably ill-hidden truth revealed by a simple Google search - and shrouded in the kind of gloomy, brooding promotional aesthetic one might associate with a Donnie Darko soundtrack, Architects of Grace should be a study in synth-pop miserablism. Me? I hear more Psychedelic Furs than Depeche Mode in the four bright, pulsating minutes of forthcoming single 'Reflection' (released 4 April). Illing's words and intonation avoid both goth-mawkishness and bitter romantic platitudes, forging through the murky flail of ringing guitars to suggest something hopeful, if not necessarily contented. Meanwhile, the industrial groove rumbles on and on. And on. Where it emerges, we'll see when debut record Moments in Time drops in mid-April.