The recent goth resurgence or (if you must) cold wave explosion, is an interesting one. While it is a new musical movement, it’s also entirely based on something that has already happened. So, it has a tendency, more than others, to come off as unfortunately imitative. But John Sharkey III isn’t new to the game. His band Clockcleaner was exploring a fuzzy post-hardcore on the verge of gothic sound long before twitter even existed. So, his new band Puerto Rico Flowers is refreshingly original, practiced, and confident in it’s execution.

Because he’s essentially old hat, he’s more comfortable blazing new trails rather than rehashing old ones. Puerto Rico Flowers owes just as much to Sharkey’s own personal style as it does to any sort of goth blueprint. Full of woozy synths and stomping melody, Puerto Rico Flowers takes an old sound and makes it sound fresh. Avoiding obsessive darkenss, Puerto Rico Flowers has a tried and true pop sensibility that I really enjoy.

Much of this comes from Sharkey’s voice, an instrument that plays as big a part as any. While at first you may be tempted to write it off as a take on the Peter Murphy baritone, it’s actually far more emotive than most cold wave singers could pull off, let alone attempt. One of things that really sets PRF apart is that it forgoes the whole done-to-death, deadpan delivery usually associated with cold wave and minimal synth. Sharkey’s vocals actually verge, and refreshingly so, on 90′s alternative crooning. Think Keith Caputo of Life of Agony or even Layne Staley. Sharkey’s voice is incredibly emotive and by keeping the arrangements relatively spare, the songs simple, the often repeated lyrics are treated to inventive and aurally pleasing twists and turns that feel more like a chant than a dirge.

Their first single off upcoming record 7 is called “3 Sisters”, and it’s quite the pop epic. Sharkey’s croons are buoyed up and up by aching synths and a propulsive bass line. More than anything, it sounds like a veteran showing the kids how it’s done. Their debut album will be out on Fan Death Records within the next few months.

- Whole Milk