by Daniela Vorndran
There’s something poetic about a band that made its name in the monochrome dusk of post-punk still casting long, colored shadows across modern music. Pink Turns Blue, Germany’s brooding, melodic darkwave emissaries, continue to defy time, fashion, and cultural upheaval, holding tight to the ache and urgency that made their early catalog cult canon. Where other bands of their era were content to fade into nostalgia circuits, Pink Turns Blue has only sharpened its edges.
“With the release of If Two Worlds Kiss in ’87 we were part of the post-punk scene,” recalls vocalist/guitarist Mic Jogwer. “Punk as anti-establishment statement not being enough, pop as a hedonistic attitude feeling shallow. The musical result often was either romantic or melancholic. Post-punk often is an emotional statement for being lost between those two worlds, not being able to feel comfortable with any side.”
That emotional in-between became their territory, and their songs often captured it with a rare clarity. “One of our most popular songs is called ‘Walking on Both Sides,’” Jogwer says. “For many, an anthem that describes their personal situation — emotionally, politically, sexually, you name it. For us and for our listeners, many of our songs represent this emotional state: Searching for meaning, searching for purpose, searching for your place in this world. Our new songs relate to today’s themes and topics but emotionally, they all bear the same attitude.”
Born out of Germany’s Cold War unease, and named after a 1984 Hüsker Dü song, Pink Turns Blue emerged in the mid- ‘80s with a sound that was somehow both clinical and tender, echoing Joy Division’s despair while flirting with pop accessibility. What separates them from a sea of contemporaries is a clarity of emotion. They don’t describe sorrow; they make it a home, decorate it, and offer you coffee while a storm rages outside.
The band has weathered lineup changes, the death of original bassist Thomas Elbern, and long hiatuses. Yet the heart of their work, poetic fatalism paired with shimmering guitar lines and minimal synth work, remains.
Their 2021 release, TAINTED, was a master class in staying relevant, addressing a fractured, pandemic-addled world with a precision that proved how vital their voice still is. Now, their latest album, Black Swan, marries their signature minor-key romanticism with thematic edge, navigating ecological despair, political apathy, and personal reckoning.
“If you are over 40 and still a person with a mission, not willing to become cynical and bored, you have to review your priorities and next goals,” Jogwer reflects. “Are we becoming just entertainers that serve nostalgia or are we still part of a community fighting to make this world a better place? A song can be an invitation and give a feeling of ‘you are NOT alone’ with your dreams of a fair world and feeling powerless and small and not being able to make a difference.”
The night’s supporting acts reflect and refract the headliner’s gothic prism with fresh urgency. NYC’s Some Days are Darker bring their shimmering guitars, ethereal synths, and propulsive rhythms into a noir-laced meditation on love, loss, and rebirth. Frontman Lear Mason’s melancholic baritone floats atop haunting melodies that are as cinematic as they are catchy.
Fort Lauderdale’s Obsidian brings a fiercer edge. Formed in 2018 as a creative purge for personal trauma, the four-piece fuses death rock grit with synth-drenched atmospherics. With three EPs and their 2024 debut LP 19 Dead, Obsidian channel dark impulses into something unflinchingly personal, proof that even in Florida’s swamps, gothic flowers bloom.
Pink Turns Blue, Some Days are Darker and Obsidian perform 7pm Sunday, September 14 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach. pinkturnsblue.com ~ Abel Folgar
