Mark Charles and the White Reflectors are an electro-guitar, industrial, neo-punk, Urban, rock-rap, noir, experimental collective based in Hastings, whose innovative, subliminal and hypnotic music disrupts, uproots and shifts the paradigms of all things considered contemporary, arty, digitally enhanced or abstract. They are creative visionaries, radical re-workers and passionately possessed, whilst remaining original masters of their craft.
With so much uncertainty in the world right now, Mark Charles and the White Reflectors are the sonic space-invaders, orbiting around the decrepitude, corrupt and dark matter of life, and creating a 3D and technicolour soundscape. As the leading artist, Mark Charles is the real deal, a bona-fide, quirky, astute, prolific non-conformist, breaking down barriers and going where aliens fear to tread.
Having released their debut album “Disobey” in September 2020, Mark Charles and the White Reflectors have been making waves locally and across the UK. Featuring Gene Serene, Valerie Renay, Sebastian Lee Philipp, VeeVee, NKdV, Richard Heslop, Susan Diamond, Takatsuna Mukai and Andrew Neate, the album is a collection of edgy escapades, a deconstruction of sonic surveillance, an intermix of spiked synths, slithering in the undergrowth of dark ambience, whilst highjacked by the audacious vocals and pacified by the soporific vocals.
With the Visual mashup provided by Black Triangle Films, “Disobey” can be purchased via https://punkvert.tv/mark-charles-and-the-white-reflectors, with limited availability of their vinyl format. Having been blown away by the sheer talent and immaculate production, it comes to no surprise that I have nominated “The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm as my Single of the Week.
The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm:
If Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch needed a signature soundtrack for “2020 the Movie”, then The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm by Mark Charles and The White Reflectors featuring Natalya K would be it. It’s an epic, entrancing track, which epitomises the darkness, terror and surrealism of Covid 19. What’s been deemed one of the most horrific years in recent times has been conceptualised, transfigured and psychoanalysed in this apocalyptic narrative.
Through the opening sirens, discordant piano-esque synths and stabbing beats, The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm creates a gritty, sexed up, Nu Metal and Rap Rock hybrid, that ponders and explodes in a full on visual and audio extravaganza. Like a cinema trailer depicting urban decay and destruction, The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm questions Covid conditioning with a duality of bold and menacing vocals.
Along with the wayward riffs and sinister synths, The Nu Norm Ain’t Norm, trip-hops through the timelines of The Prodigy, Massive Attack and Daft Punk, whilst offloading its firebrand goods. As a guest singer, Natalya K is a mesmerising siren, whose fierce vocals and striking looks work perfectly with the overall aesthetics of the track. Like a dominatrix street warrior, Natalya K drags you by the hair into a theatrical underworld, of truth-seeking anarchy and rock n roll revolt.
Along with her partner in crime, Mark Charles, who like a cow-boy crusader, side-saddles all guns blazing, does an amazing job as both a co-vocalist and producer. So, just when you thought 2020 couldn’t be articulated effectively, or placed in a context to give it justice, along comes formidable The New Norm Ain’t Norm.
The New Norm Ain’t Norm video directed by Richard Heslop (who has made videos for Happy Mondays, New Order, Sinead O’Connor, The Cure and many more).