With their borderline gothic title, stark monochromatic artwork and dark electro sound Death Rattle, aka London based duo Helen and Chris Hamilton, fuse trembling beats with an unearthly, robotic vocal.
Here, they tell us more about their background, upcoming EP and plans to tour.
Welcome to TVD! Please, can you introduce yourselves…
We’re Chris Hamilton and Helen Hamilton from London, and the two of us write and perform together as electronic doom pop duo Death Rattle.
Anything we should know about your name?
It is a medical term that describes the sound produced by someone who is near death when saliva accumulates in the throat.
How did you start making music together?
A previous grunge band we were both in split up very suddenly, so the two of us decided to go away somewhere remote for a few weeks and write something different and explore new sounds. We wrote our first three songs as Death Rattle and haven’t looked back.
What should we expect from your EP?
Five tracks that combine mesmerising synth lines and bold, tribal-esque beats, which rumble beneath layers of dark vocal harmonies and evocative lyrics of loss and unity.
From what I’ve heard Death Rattle’s a fairly experimental force. What’s been your biggest breakthrough as a duo?
Releasing our first song and video ‘The Dig’ as a completely new band and getting such a wave of positive reaction and interest from bloggers worldwide was a massive achievement for us.
Are there any plans to tour in the pipeline?
A European and UK tour is being booked for October and November. We love playing live, so will continue to gig in to 2013.
You can download ‘The Dig’ from Death Rattle’s Soundcloud page. Death Rattle’s four-track EP HE & I is released on Frontal Noise, October 15th, 2012.
