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Feb 19, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

San Francisco darkwave artist Loner Statue has shared the video for his debut single, “Controller,” premiering with Under the Radar. Loner Statue is the songwriting outlet for Zach Dighans, also known for taking on vocals/guitar in his shoegaze band, Pure Hex. Taking cues ‘80s goth rock, post punk, and synthwave, Loner Statue sets about revitalizing the era’s despondent romanticism with a modern sheen, as if Choir Boy was fronted by Ian Curtis.

The Ian Curtis comparison may be an obvious one, but Dighan’s rich baritone is a dead ringer for the Joy Division frontman. What’s more, he carries much the same sweeping gravitas and otherworldly power. Yet, the pulsing synth textures and shimmering guitar tones of “Controller” feel closer to The Cure than Joy Division, bringing a strong melodic drive to the song as it builds to the climactic glittery crescendo. Urged on by an insistent rhythm section, Dighan finds a perfect match between haunting vocal passages and the luminous ‘80s instrumental. The video hits on a similar mismatched feeling as Dighans sits, disassociated and detached from the surrounding party.

Dighans describes the track saying, “The song melded together what originally felt like two entirely separate musical pieces; one piece was the backbone of the song (the instrumentation and production), and the other was the lyrics and vocals. The instrumentation definitely gives off a bit more of a happier, relieving feeling, while the lyrics almost haunt and cry out to the progression of the song. This wasn’t intentional, but I think this is ultimately the metaphor for how I was feeling at the time - just dissociated from my surroundings and trying to play it cool and tell myself everything will be alright.”

He continues, saying of the video, “The video for Controller primarily focuses on portraying what it felt like to feel completely unattached and isolated from the world. You can see all of these things are happening around me, and I’m just there, purely existing. Only at the end of the video have I come to terms with the role I play in my own well-being.” Check out the song and video below.