Photo by Gretchen Krueger

set dressing emerged recently from behind the curtain of their debut single, “class valedictorian”, in enigmatic effect. As an avatar-faced extension of Mandy, Indiana, the project didn’t immediately present itself as a tangent to the industrial dance schisms of the between-Manchester-and-Berlin four-piece, making it even more so ambiguous to differentiate the silhouette(s) behind the sound. “date line”, the latest single from set dressing’s newly-announced debut EP, i can’t be alone tonight, draws in some of those outlines by coming to life in ways that can only be described as a sonic reaction to what came before it. Replete are the droning synths absorbing the atmosphere of its graduating predecessor, as “date line” stymies movement into play using animated samples and swaths of synthetic strings skittering across a canvas elevated higher above this hellscape through its vaporized air. That gravity is where we’re drawn closer into the warm celestial body behind set dressing in its pitch-shifted vocal form. “I’ll put the distant fires before they’ve chance to grow,” the voice sings. “I will dance amongst the flames / But you will never know.” From up there, set dressing offers sanctuary — if you’re lucky enough to reach it.

Directed by: Gretchen Krueger

set dressing’s i can’t be alone tonight will be released April 11th on Fire Talk.