The floor is sticky. Silver-colored jewelry jingles. The air is hazy with the scent of Marlboro Red cigarettes and vanilla perfume. Jet black and gunmetal colored eyelids close and open, and raven-haired goths ravish the dancefloor with their excellent, maximalist curated outfits. The reason for all these beautiful people dressed to the nines is very simple: She Past Away is in town, and their show had begun with ”Durdu Dunya” making the dancefloor sway violently, yet so beautifully that it mesmerizes.
She Past Away, along with other gothic legends such as Ultra Sunn, Bragolin, Selofan and The Cure, has proven with their synth-heavy gloomy vibe, that goth owns the night, and that the dancefloor is meant to be painted black. The emotion at the show was almost impossible to describe. Seeing She Past Away felt unreal for this baby goth, and I felt immense respect from all the crowd towards the band, but also to each other. Never have I ever seen as many people dancing at Tavara-Asema, and what surprised me the most, that even battle-vest oriented metalheads swayed to the soundscape and even wiped tears from their faces by the power of sheer emotion.
She Past Away´s music is purely enigmatic. Their sound embodies goth emotions, but as the debate has been out forever in terms of determining what constitutes ”goth”, I will leave the discussion to those who truly think that this deserves an answer. As to me, I focused to inhale the atmosphere – all of it was so transcendently charismatic, yet minimal, that it made me wonder if Volkan and Doruk had placed us all into a trance. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. Volkan´s deep, monotonic voice invokes emotion, and makes it almost impossible to stand still. Especially the songs ”Asimilasyon” and ”Ruh” held me in such a strong chokehold, that I was struggling to keep myself together.
All in all, this duo of post-punk dark wave royalty played a beautiful show that left me speechless. She Past Away is a subculture essential, and deserves all the time and attention from its´ people. I can´t wait to dance again to the sound of darkness in the midst of a beautifully noir dancefloor. She Past Away proved by their charisma, talent and artistic style, that goth indeed lives, and it even thrives here in Finland.
Story and photos by: Meri Ahokas
