DUCTAPE - Faded Flowers

Over two years have passed since the release of "Echo Drama", a period in which Ductape have shifted into top gear, helped along by the (deserved) success of that previous effort. Countless shows around the world, a single with fellow countrymen She Past Away, and finally the move from Turkey to Strasbourg, a new strategic base from which to fuel a magic moment that shows no sign of stopping.

"Faded Flowers" doesn't need to prove anything, because the most important thing is to guarantee continuity with the past, without any drastic overhauls or overreaching. Ductape clearly understand this, and it's no coincidence that the ten tracks on the album press steadily ahead along an already familiar path, moving between darkwave and stripped-down post-punk (as ever, propped up by synthesizers and electronic drums). But the extra weapon here is Çağla Güleray's powerful voice, practically a guarantee for anyone who loves goth music in its female-fronted form.

The album takes off right after the decent but hardly essential "Figures", firing off some of its best shots first with the driving bass-synth of the single "Fine", and then with the crushing "Obscure", a track that conveys an indescribable sense of alienation and solitude. Indeed, the conceptual core of the record rests on the image of humanity reduced to a field of wilted flowers: individuals hollowed out by repetition, isolation, expectations, and a growing emotional apathy.
While the tracks sung in their native language don't make much of a difference this time around ("Delilik" still stands a notch above the rather uninspired "Gölgesiz"), the album clearly regains momentum whenever Ductape make room for less predictable compositions ("Velvet Dawn" and "Sad Gravity") or ones cloaked in a solemn darkness ("D.E.R.T." could well become a dancefloor filler in dark clubs).

Ultimately, though less impetuous and more measured than the duo's previous release, "Faded Flowers" is an album that won't disappoint fans of the Istanbul duo at all, precisely because it represents the ideal continuation of a clearly charted path. A path through that greyness which keeps raging on everywhere.

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20/09/2026