SYZYGYX at the Red Party at Mercury Lounge

Luna Blanc

Based outside of Washington, D.C., Josh Clark is a musician and audio engineer formerly known as DJ Impulse in two bands, Corrupt Souls and Sinthetix. Clark and vocalist Luna Blanc met in a retail store in Fairfax, Virginia, where he worked and she was interviewing for a job. Blanc had experimented with keyboards from a young age, but pursued photography, writing, and film in college. In time, Clark and Blanc fell in love, moved in together, built a home studio, and began creating music through synthesizers. They named themselves SYZYGYX (pronounced sih-zeh-jix) from the scientific word syzygy, a space term for the alignment of celestial objects. They added the letter “x” to symbolize the unknown. The Graveyard Compilation, released on released May 15, 2019, is a collection of songs from previous recordings.

SYZYGYX made its live debut at the Red Party, the monthly darkwave and gothic party at Mercury Lounge, and the question was whether the duo could bring its studio tracks to life. Unfortunately, ongoing technical problems plagued the set. Clark turned dials and flipped switches, but the pre-programmed music and the synthesizer itself would not cooperate with his wishes. Nevertheless, the duo showed promise, with Clark playing dark, bleak layers of electronic soundscapes and danceable beats behind Blanc's disaffected, husky vocals. The effect was haunting yet compelling. If future performances overcome tonight's technical glitches, SYZYGYX will prove to be a popular act on the darkwave and gothic circuits.