REVIEW

The debut album from California-based witch house duo Melancholic Crossroads. Built on cold, mechanical four-on-the-floor beats, the tracks are anchored by a detached female vocal delivery and enveloped in layers of shimmering, otherworldly synthesizers. The resulting soundscape feels less like a conventional club setting and more like background music for a ghostly masquerade—eerie, seductive, and quietly hypnotic.

The album’s appeal lies in its balance between austerity and fantasy. While the rhythmic foundation remains rigid and industrial, the glossy keyboards introduce a dreamlike sheen that softens the overall severity. This tension gives the music a cinematic quality, one that suggests nocturnal rituals rather than straightforward dance tracks. The atmosphere is especially resonant during the autumn months, when themes of darkness and enchantment naturally feel closer to the surface.

Listeners drawn to dark yet whimsical narratives—such as The Nightmare Before Christmas or Something Wicked This Way Comes—may find a familiar emotional register here. Musically, the album should also resonate with those who favor the shadowy electronic aesthetics of Crystal Castles, Sidewalks and Skeletons, or Banshee. As a debut, it presents a cohesive and immersive vision, positioning Melancholic Crossroads as a project worth noting within the contemporary witch house and dark electronic landscape.