II by Loveshadow

Bay Area DIY pop duo Loveshadow join up with Dark Entries to release II, their sophomore LP. Anya Prisk and Izaak Schlossman met in Oakland in 2016, bonded over their love of ‘80s sounds and immediately began building their musical world with lush synths, funky basslines, and irresistible hooks. The past is always in their palette, but Loveshadow’s nostalgia doesn’t trace to any single locus; it’s more like a cloud, and it’s through this haze that they breathe new life into the music they love. Their debut album was released in 2021 on Music from Memory to acclaim. II presents a more subtle and refined statement from the band - laser-focused on the vaporous expanse. Album opener “Last Room” saunters with the confidence of Sade, while “Earthen Track” feels like Kate Bush covering a forgotten city pop anthem. The album is largely focused on club-friendly material, but mellower pieces like “Winter’s Door” and “Mirage” are sophisticated stand-outs that would make Ryuchi Sakamoto proud. Italo funk groover “Power Melts Away” closes out the album by upping the energy into fist-pumping territory. Anya’s lyrics on II use the unreality of dreams as a lens to examine the realities of change and personal growth; illusions made material. Loveshadow elegantly smear the lines between past and present, pop and avant, immanent and transcendent.

Currently based in San Francisco, the duo of Anya Prisk and Izaak Schlossman bonded over a track by the ’80s disco and almost immediately their separate journeys in music became interwoven. They soon began to write music and creating their own work would become a way for the pair to get closer to the sound they were searching for, as well as enabling them to discover the healing power of music.