Αναλυτική Περιγραφή
Singer d4vd conjures a feeling of blissed-out pop sadness on his lyrical and deeply engaging full-length debut, 2025's Withered. The stage name of David Anthony Burke, d4vd has carved out a distinctive niche in the pop landscape with his gothy, shoegaze-adjacent anthems that somehow manage to combine the melancholy, '80s alt-rock atmosphere of the Cure with the warm, soulful romanticism of R&B artists like Baby Face and early Michael Jackson.
It's an evocative, sensual sound that made his 2023 EP, Petals to Thorns, so affecting and one he further expands to equally goosebump-inducing effect on Withered. Initially tagged as a bedroom pop artist, d4vd has evolved, and Withered is a grandly realized production, full of bright, moon-sized synths, kinetic post-punk guitar wizardry, and melodic chorus hooks that smash into your solar plexus.
And while gauzy spectral romance is key to the album's appeal, d4vd isn't afraid to kick up the grooves, and cuts like the disco-funk-infused "Feel It" and the Killers-esque "What Are You Waiting For?" expertly capture a sparkly, vampire dance-club vibe.
Still, there's a gentleness to d4vd's work that sneaks up on you, lulling you into a half-lidded sonic daydream before waking you up with a strong, emotional pop wallop. It's a quality evident from the start, as on the opening "Atomic Land," where he coos in his tenor lilt against a shimmering guitar backdrop, wondering, "There's something about you that I don't understand/If my arms were around you, would you love me again?"
More sugar-dipped moments of romantic longing follow, including "Somewhere in the Middle," "Is This Really Love?," and "Where'd It Go Wrong?" as well as his Motown-style duet with Kali Uchis, "Crashing," songs that seem to pull you further into the rapturous vortex of his cinematic, goth pop headspace.
With Withered, d4vd hasn't just made an album where he manages to break your heart once and make you fall back in love, he does it over and over again.
~ Matt Collar
It's an evocative, sensual sound that made his 2023 EP, Petals to Thorns, so affecting and one he further expands to equally goosebump-inducing effect on Withered. Initially tagged as a bedroom pop artist, d4vd has evolved, and Withered is a grandly realized production, full of bright, moon-sized synths, kinetic post-punk guitar wizardry, and melodic chorus hooks that smash into your solar plexus.
And while gauzy spectral romance is key to the album's appeal, d4vd isn't afraid to kick up the grooves, and cuts like the disco-funk-infused "Feel It" and the Killers-esque "What Are You Waiting For?" expertly capture a sparkly, vampire dance-club vibe.
Still, there's a gentleness to d4vd's work that sneaks up on you, lulling you into a half-lidded sonic daydream before waking you up with a strong, emotional pop wallop. It's a quality evident from the start, as on the opening "Atomic Land," where he coos in his tenor lilt against a shimmering guitar backdrop, wondering, "There's something about you that I don't understand/If my arms were around you, would you love me again?"
More sugar-dipped moments of romantic longing follow, including "Somewhere in the Middle," "Is This Really Love?," and "Where'd It Go Wrong?" as well as his Motown-style duet with Kali Uchis, "Crashing," songs that seem to pull you further into the rapturous vortex of his cinematic, goth pop headspace.
With Withered, d4vd hasn't just made an album where he manages to break your heart once and make you fall back in love, he does it over and over again.
~ Matt Collar
