CD Reviews

Mayflower Madame - Insight

November 2024

Night Cult Records / Up In Her Room / Icy Cold Records

Norwegian post-punk outfit Mayflower Madame returned with "Insight", their third full-length album!

"Insight" is the latest full length release by Mayflower Madame and, as they describe it, the defining moment of their artistic journey so far. If their debut "Observed in a Dream" (2016) introduced their shadowy soundscapes and "Prepared for a Nightmare" (2020) refined them into something more cinematic and atmospheric, "Insight" feels like the logical step towards the highest point of their soundscapes. "Insight" is bigger, more textured, and emotionally rawer than ever before. Mayflower Madame consists of Trond Fagernes (vocals/guitars/bass) and Ola J. Kyrkjeeide (drums), while on their latest release we find the contribution of Kenneth Eknes (synth) and the returning founding member Rune Overby (guitar on track 6, 8 & 9).

"Insight" is deeply somber and emotional for another reason. The whole album is dedicated to Marion Serck Fagernes, the demised daughter of Mayflower Madame's frontman, Trond Fagernes, while the opening track "Ocean of Bitterness" and the closing "Insight for the Mourning Hours" delivers the deep sadness and emotions of Fagernes.

Starting the sonic and emotional journey into "Insight", with mixing and mastering duties handled by Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher), the album’s production highlights the band’s already hypnotic style. The guitar tones reflect an icy attraction, the basslines vibrate a nocturnal tension, and the drums, both programmed and acoustic, anchor the compositions with a mystic, almost ritualistic pulse. "Insight" thrives on contrasts. Light versus shadow, melody versus conflict, precision versus fluidity. It’s the sound of a band ready to explore the full spectrum of human emotion while remaining firmly focused in the aesthetics of gothic, intense post-punk and psych-noir.

The album opens with "Ocean of Bitterness", a fittingly named track that sets the tone with its relentless momentum and ethereal yet melancholic atmosphere. "A Foretold Ecstasy" follows with a cinematic, dream quality, while "Never Sever" delivers classic post-punk strength with its sharp, twisting riffs.

"Marionette" stands out with its haunting vocal delivery and an masked sense of claustrophobia, while "Paint It All in Blue" shrouds itself in waves of reverb-soaked guitars, evoking the blissful haze of peak shoegaze. The closing track, "Insight for the Mourning Hours", is perhaps the most emotionally potent, stretching into five-plus minutes of emotional relief, aching, grand, and beautifully mournful.

"Insight" is a brilliant album by Mayflower Madame. It’s both their most expansive and most personal album to date, capturing the band’s essence with impressive sharpness. There’s a weight to this record, a sense of completeness and deep emotional process that starts from the first note and lasts until the end. "Insight" is a hypnotic and deeply affecting work that sets Mayflower Madame as one of the most compelling acts in modern darkwave and post-punk.

Info:

https://www.facebook.com/mayflowermadame/

https://www.youtube.com/@MayflowerMadame

https://www.instagram.com/mayflowermadame/

https://soundcloud.com/mayflower-madame