Dark Light [FBN 145] | Section 25

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Section 25 \ Dark Light [FBN 145]

Dark Light is the eighth studio album by post-punk trailblazers Section 25, and their first since the tragic loss of founder Larry Cassidy in 2010.

The 10 track set signals a return to the smooth electro and synth-pop textures first explored on their 1984 classic From the Hip. These echoes are amplified by the presence of co-vocalists Beth and Jo Cassidy, and a cover image by artist/designer Peter Saville.

Much of Dark Light was produced in collaboration with remixer Derek Miller (aka Outernationale) and includes new versions of single tracks Colour Movement Sex & Violence and Inner Drive. Other stand-out cuts include future pop classic My Outrage, made available as a limited edition 7" single (7 FBN 62) to mark Record Store Day in 2013. There are also two bonus tracks on the CD.

Issued on vinyl for the first time in 2023, this format is limited to 500 copies only pressed on crystal clear vinyl. A bundle containing all 4 vinyl titles (FBN 130, 135, 140 and 145, plus a signed postcard and a bonus copy of the FBN 124 live package) is also available.

Vinyl tracklist:

A1. World's End
A2. My Outrage
A3. Pitch Black Box
A4. Love Cuts
A5. Colour Movement Sex & Violence
B1. Inner Drive
B2. 78
B3. Letter to America
B4. Memento
B5. Early Exit

CD + digital tracklist:

1. World's End
2. My Outrage
3. Pitch Black Box
4. Love Cuts
5. Colour Movement Sex & Violence
6. Inner Drive
7. 78
8. Letter to America
9. Memento
10. Early Exit
11. CMS&V Dub Mix
12. Program for Light (Outernationale Mix)

Available on CD, vinyl and digital (MP3 and FLAC). CD copies ordered direct from FBN are slipcased. To order CD or vinyl please first select correct shipping option (UK, Europe, Rest of World) and then click on Add To Cart button below cover image. Digital copies are supplied to customers via link sent by email.

Or, you can order with the option of tracked shipping from our friends at Burning Shed (click here to order)

Reviews:

"Initially dogged in their pursuit of rhythm-driven gloom, Section 25 later became an indie-dance crossover act with a penchant for lilting melodies and warm electronics. It's a fusion of these two sounds that often inhabits their 21st century work, Dark Light feeling bittersweet with its mournful lyrics ('How can we be found/If we never get lost') written after the premature death of founder member Larry Cassidy." (Electronic Sound, 09/2023)

"A revelation. The group were once doomy post-punks whose 1984 electronic album From the Hip anticipated house music and thrilled New York clubland. Now the deaths of singers Larry and Jenny Cassidy have inspired their daughter Bethany to carry on the family business and give the band a makeover. The collision of the original members' brittle rhythms and the angelic voices of Bethany and similarly fresh-faced co-singer Jo takes recent material into shimmering club-pop heaven" (The Guardian, 04/2014)

"From Factory miserablists to house music progenitors, it's been quite a journey for Section 25. Collaborating with remixer Outernationale, this eighth album is full of unbridled joy with uplifting rhythms and clanging, surging synth textures. Post-punk, electro - call it what you will, this is the album of their lives. 9/10" (Vive le Rock, 03/2013)

"Bethany and Joanna Cassidy have given Section 25 a pop gloss transformation in contrast to the sparse sound of earlier albums. However the band remains adventurous and keen to explore genres and song dynamics - still a tasty cocktail of electronica, dance, ambience and new wave" (Record Collector, 07/2014)

"Many of today's austere electronic outfits owe them a considerable debt. Dark Light is disarmingly perky, with some cute production touches - the wasp-cloud synth swarming through World's End, for example, and the growling bass of Love Cuts" (The Wire, 04/2013)

"The idea of a 1980s Factory band fronted by a young, attractive woman in her twenties sounds like a terrible idea on paper, but Dark Light actually demonstrates the absolute opposite. The result is 80s electronica brought smack bang into the 21st century, by a combination of clever updating of the sound to make it relevant today and the pre-requisite of a fantastic set of songs. It respectfully nods to the past, but it's a very forward-looking record. If this record had been produced by a group of young twenty-year old pretty kids in dark clothes, it'd rightly be hailed as a genuine electro-pop classic and Beth lauded as an icon for young girls to look up to. Sadly, that's not how the industry and mainstream press work. However, somehow, against all the odds, Section 25 have produced a genuinely exciting edgy pop record without compromising their history and legacy" (Louder Than War, 02/2013)

"By 2013, Section 25 were an accepted cult favourite (Factory Records fans and those nostalgic for "Madchester" were the bulk of their audience) and a veteran post-punk group (having formed in 1977), but look closer and there's a heartwarming, phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes story to be told. The unromantic long and short of it goes that leader Larry Cassidy passed away in 2010, six years after his wife/bandmate/lead singer Jenny had passed away, and while that all points to the dour, Joy Division side of Factory where everything seemed doomed or cursed, the Cassidys' daughter, Bethany, has ushered the group into the more New Order, more synth pop side of the Factory aesthetic with brilliant, bright dance-pop. To be fair, there were previous clues, like the remix album Retrofit (2010), a bittersweet effort with Larry passing before its completion yet "showing the way" with his re-embracing of the dance beat, along with the masterpiece album From the Hip (1984) and the semi-hit Looking From a Hilltop, which were shiny, dance, and pop, but like everything during the Mach 1 era, almost discreet. The opener here, World's End, holds that same kind of reserve, floating and dreaming with sequencers set on "soft," but My Outrage is identifiable Bethany era, brimming with youth and youthful disdain for crappy boyfriends, all while bleeping and bopping like any happening hipster who is borrowing the best from new wave. Thing is, Beth is backed by a band whose members were there when the wave really was new, and they're family, with Vincent Cassidy and Joanna Cassidy joined by longtime Sectioner Stephen Stringer, all of them providing the rock-solid grooves. Inner Drive is the cool combination of Kraftwerk and Ladytron only a cross-generational group like this could achieve, and if the hooky single Colour Movement Sex & Violence didn't fall off New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies, the next best candidate would be the Killers' Day & Age. Fine songwriting, that kinetic, '80s mix of live and computerised, and a well-designed layout for the album - closing with one more nod to the past - make this effort both a time-warping triumph and a stunning rebirth from the band that always deserved better" (All Music Guide, 02/2013)

"A belter of an album all about hope and moving on, and as wholesome and rewarding as their first" (Flipside, 01/2013)