Chicago trio Replicant slip their icy heart into dark leather boots to dance in the well-trodden midnight haunts of goth and postpunk bands such as Joy Division, the Cure, and Bauhaus. On “The Exit,” which opens the group’s second full-length, last year’s self-released Daybreaker, the thudding beats and echoing synths of producer Justin DeLay moan through a boneyard of retrofuturistic robot graves. Singer-guitarist Garrett Vernon repeatedly intones the two lines that constitute the song’s lyrics (“Every time I’m haunted by goodbye / And every time, you’ll still be gone”) with a nasal, stentorian flatness—he evokes a hurt so deep that it’s turned the group’s frozen heart into a cryogenic mass waiting to be reanimated by the heat death of the universe.
Replicant aren’t a band that cultivate (or are interested in) a wide stylistic range, but that’s in line with this corner of music: Cyborgs who’ve had their hormones replaced with antifreeze don’t generally exhibit varied emotional affect. The pleasure comes from watching the firelight of the apocalypse flicker across an expressionless visual prosthesis while dancing to the industrialized rhythms of distant factories. Vernon’s voice is the perfect complement to Delay’s soundscapes; it’s not only powerfully inhuman but also distinctive in its evocation of agonized anonymity. For this show, Chicago’s DJ Patrixia will sit in for bassist Jordan DeLay (Justin’s brother), and her propulsive grooves should help Replicant soar toward the bleak synths of tomorrow.
Replicant Visceral Anatomy and Echodroides open. Sat 1/17, 8 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $17, $15 in advance, 17+
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