HEAR THIS: Houses

Abandoned homes. A post-apocalyptic search for one’s love. Most unlikely and unusual of inspirations to draw upon when crafting a body of musical work, you say? We say so, as well, but we simply cannot fault the end result born by Chicago duo Dexter Tortoriello and Megan Messina aka Houses and their album, A Quiet Darkness. Spooky, eh? Perhaps, but this is a concept album recorded in said abandoned homes while traveling along a California highway, capturing cinematic and ethereal sounds of the emotional journey. Electronica can be silly, overwrought and sometimes takes itself way too seriously, but A Quiet Darkness is built upon a foundation of the sturdy yet spatial, the brooding yet hopeful, the losing yet still loving in an ambient setting that has moody tones, vocals, and haunting melody perfection written all over it. And if you guessed that Tortoriello and Messina are also a real life couple, you win a cookie. Assuming that cookies survive the apocalypse, that is.