page_title: Dark wave
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Dark wave / History / United States
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Monica Richards (Faith &amp; The Muse) und Marzia Rangel (ex-Scarlet’s Remains), live 2009.
context_page_description: Dark wave or darkwave is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics, and have been perceived as being dark, romantic, and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow. Common features include the use of chordophones such as electric and acoustic guitar, violin, and piano, as well as electronic instruments such as synthesizer, sampler, and drum machine. The genre embraces a range of styles including cold wave, ethereal wave, gothic rock, neoclassical dark wave, and neofolk.
  In the 1980s, a subculture developed primarily in Europe alongside dark wave music, whose followers were called wavers or dark wavers. In some countries such as Germany, the movement also included fans of gothic rock.
context_section_description: After 1993, in the United States the term dark wave (as the one-word variant 'darkwave') became associated with the Projekt Records label, because it was adopted by label founder Sam Rosenthal after leafing through the pages of German music magazines such as Zillo, and has been used to promote and market artists from German label Hyperium Records in the U.S., e.g. Chandeen and Love Is Colder Than Death.
  I first became aware of the term "Dark Wave" back in 1992. It appeared in German magazines – such as Zillo – describing a style of European music that followed other "waves" such as New Wave ... I found those two words ("dark" and "wave") quite interesting. This was something underground, submerged, obscure... which swept over you, immersed you, surrounded you. It was a poetic phrase that could describe many different sounds. At the time, I was looking for a name for my little mail-order company. I wanted something that would encompass the variety of music available in my catalog.
  — Sam Rosenthal, Projekt Records, 2000
  Projekt features bands such as Lycia, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, and Love Spirals Downwards, some of these characterized by atmospheric guitar and synth-sounds and female vocals. This style took cues from 1980s bands like Cocteau Twins and is often referred to as ethereal dark wave. Projekt has also had a long association with Attrition, who appeared on the label's earliest compilations. Another American record label in this vein was Tess Records, which featured This Ascension, Faith and the Muse, and the reunited Clan of Xymox.
  Joshua Gunn, a professor of communication studies at Louisiana University, described the U.S. type of dark wave music as
  an expansion of the rather limited gothic repertoire into electronica and, in a way, the US answer to the 'ethereal' subgenre that developed in Europe (e.g. Dead Can Dance). Anchored by Sam Rosenthal's now New York-based label Projekt, dark wave music is less rock and more roll, supporting bands who tend to emphasize folk songcraft, hushed vocals, ambient experimentation, and synthesized sounds [...] Projekt bands like Love Spirals Downwards and Lycia are the most popular of this subgenre.
caption: Faith & The Muse (Monica Richards and Marzia Rangel of Christ vs. Warhol and Scarlet's Remains)
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