Masochist by Night Club

Review written by BlueMoonMusic

Masochist is the fourth studio album by Night Club, a Los Angeles based duo consisting of Mark Brooks and Emily Kavanaugh. The group’s music can be best described as electro-goth, sounding straight out of a dark Halloween themed rave both sonically and lyrically. The intense beats and basses in their songs are ones you can feel in your soul, contrasted by Kavanaugh’s high pitched vocals, which sound both sensual and pouty at the same time. Brooks provides deep harmonies that contrast nicely with hers, or in other cases the main musical theme (see “The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)”). Despite their infectious sound, Night Club’s work always stays within the macabre in terms of subject matter. Toxic love, mental illness, anxiety, and loneliness are only some of the things they delve into while hypnotizing you with their punchy tracks. Night Club is a group that I’ve heard off and on throughout the years but have never listened to an album in their entirety. I’ve since had this one on repeat for several weeks now and am itching to scope out more from this groundbreaking group.

Masochist is an album whose messaging is right on the tin. Each track explores a romantic relationship from the perspective of a masochist. The narrator recounts their unhealthy obsession with their partner, of how much they need the other person regardless of how toxic or destructive the relationship is. It deals with themes of loss of innocence, revenge, sadism, and an inability to move on. Despite the bleakness of these ideas, the rave-like music it’s paired with makes the whole thing feel oddly sexy. Opening track “Gone” seems to start the story from the ending, like the audience gets a glimpse into the aftermath of the relationship before seeing its beginning. The lyrics “we can’t turn back, we can’t go back” punctuate the song over and over, implying that the relationship is over, but perhaps that the narrator also can’t go back to who they were before. It’s a hard opening, with the background synth feeling like it’s constantly ascending, leading the listener into the bombastic chorus.

From there the album seems to dive into the relationship that just ended, both from different perspectives within it and the varying psychological turns it takes. Songs like “Barbwire Kiss,” “Crime Scene,” and “Fatal Crush” describe the narrator’s obsession with their partner and their masochistic pleasure associated with it: “I get high from the pain, I love the rush” (“Fatal Crush”); “Left to bleed, was I always meant to be a victim in your crime scene?” (“Crime Scene”). These lyrics paint a picture of someone who knows exactly what they’re getting into, but doesn’t seem to care. They victimize themselves, but are a completely willing participant. To them, the relationship has made them evolve from a “good girl” to a masochist. As the album continues, they seem to have embraced this inner darkness. “Let’s Play Revenge!” illustrates a game of cat and mouse as they hunt someone down, while “Pretty Girls Do Ugly Things” implies that they’re just as sadistic and reveling in someone having their own masochistic attraction to them. The dichotomy of these songs continually flips the script on who is the predator and the prey in the relationship. But the album isn’t all just about sadomasochistic pleasure. In “The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)” and “Everybody Knows” there’s a very overt sense of isolation and mental illness. Both songs are filled with playful anxiety and paranoia, tackling a serious subject matter in ways highly unconventional for the genre. The upbeat music doesn’t demean the ideas they’re working with, but doesn’t make it feel heavy either. It weaves the story of someone whose mental issues may contribute to their dependency on these masochistic relationships, all while doing it in a cleverly catchy way.

The final track of the album, “Black December,” is a departure from form for Night Club. The song is absent of synths and relies solely on piano, drums, and strings, more of a ballad than a head banger. It’s a change that gives the listener tonal whiplash, a calm and morose ending to a bombastic album, but it’s not in a bad way. Fittingly, the song seems to talk about someone post break up, the conclusion to this roller coaster relationship. They seem unable to move on from the memories of what once was, caught in a hopeless and bleak state of mind. It’s not a happy ending for the narrator, but maybe they’ve been saved from more pain in the long run. I was really taken aback by this track originally, having heard nothing like it before from Night Club. It initially put me off a little bit, but as time went on I grew to appreciate the oddball of the bunch. The poppy rave tracks that came before it do nothing to prepare you for such a solemn conclusion, and it’s a change that you need to learn to savor, one that makes the message of the song even more impactful. It’s a fitting end for the album, in my opinion, and a nice breather after all the high energy songs that came before it.

Masochist is an album that is as playful as it is dark, but though the lyrics may seem a bit fantastical, there may be more truth to them than originally thought. Released in a time where dating and relationships, for some, have never been more difficult with social media and cultural ideals, Masochist may just be a dramatic retelling of modern relationship struggles. Communication issues, distrust, and setting your partner up with standards they can’t possibly live up to are all things that plague the dating scene today. Many people lock themselves into couplings that only serve to hurt themselves and their partner, creating relationships that feel almost accidentally sadomasochistic. And amidst a designated “loneliness epidemic,” the anxiety and isolation of the tracks feel oddly fitting. Night Club’s version may be a bit more violent and campy, but the cycle of emotional heartache is still there. It’s an album that stands out in the current zeitgeist, willing to combine a genre that’s typically all about feeling good and having a great time with subject matter that’s very much not, and I love every minute of it. Despite having favorites on the album, I genuinely enjoy the entire thing and have put it on while working or going on walks. As someone who never listens to full albums, I consider that a feat that can’t be ignored. I imagine I’ll be returning to this one for many years to come, like a masochist to their sadistic lover.