When Danish songwriters Josephine Phillip and Ina Lindgreen teamed up with Trentmøller, Denmark’s dark prince of shadowy electronic soundscapes in 2009 it resulted in a project so momentous, it sort of had to be called Darkness Falls.

Vocalist and keyboardist Phillip lays down eerie layers of synth and satiny vocals while Lindgreen on guitar and bass adds reverberating tremolo and low-end undertow. That’s when Trentmøller steps up to the controls to wrap the sophisticated-yet-minimal tunes in an atmospheric mantle.

The duo debuted with an EP in 2011 and followed it up a few months later with their full-length album Alive in Us. There’s a flair for the classic on the LP that evokes Nancy Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot, but there’s a raw freshness in their creations too. It’s like Marc Jacobs’ came out with a mourning line that’s made of music. “The Void” is a crisp, tuneful elegy, while murky “Hey!” is a bit more daring, dabbling as it does in dubby minimalism and gothic tribal rhythms. It doesn’t hurt that all the stark emotion and brooding melody is coming from the mouths of two way-ethereal babes who have the same haircut. But don’t start thinking that gloom is the only style in their repertoire, the two musicians met while playing in a ska band.

Phillip and Lindgreen say their band name is meant to evoke the end of a scene in a script for a play, but we can tell the curtain is only just rising on their story.

Photo provided by hfm music