On Translucent Black Ice Vinyl

On his full-length debut, 2023's darkly emotive yet endlessly hooky Petals to Thorns, David Anthony Burke, aka d4vd, makes good on his emo-goth loverman persona. Having broken through with his 2022 single "Romantic Homicide," Burke builds upon that buzz here, crafting an album that feels like a kohl-eyed amalgam of Stevie Wonder and the Cure's Robert Smith. However, while "Romantic Homicide" (which is included here) certainly set the tone of the self-eviscerating balladry at the core of Burke's aesthetic, Petals to Thorns reveals there's so much more depth to his sound. Hearing that he grew up listening to gospel music isn't hard to believe when you hear the fragile guitar arpeggio that opens "Sleep Well," a lilting love song with shimmering string-synth accents that evokes the yearning R&B of Boyz II Men and early Michael Jackson. Equally evocative, the sparkling "Here with Me" sounds somewhat impossibly like Ween covering a Lionel Richie slow jam from the '80s. Elsewhere, we get the baroque harmonies of "This Is How It Feels" (a romantically twilight-toned duet with Laufey) and the moody new wave balladry of "Backstreet Girl." Yet it isn't all shadows and fog as he dives headlong into the anthemic post-punk of "You and I" before finishing things off with the grungy, Paramore-esque album closer "The Bridge."

Sleep Well 2:55
Here With Me 4:02
This Is How It Feels (with Laufey) 4:44
Don't Forget About Me 2:29
Worthless 2:43
Backstreet Girl 4:10
You and I 2:32
Romantic Homicide 2:12
The Bridge 3:01