Italian Darkwave Producer Torba Scratches the NIN Itch with “Dare”

Sometimes interesting album art is enough to get you through the door. Flipping through my inbox recently, I spotted a 1990s-infomercial-ass photo of a chef showing off a big knife, moments before slicing into a cream pie. The chef’s eyes are cut off but he’s smiling, while the makeshift face on the cream pie looks concerned. Subtly sinister but mostly funny, this cover did not exactly prepare me for the onslaught of darkwave and industrial that came clattering out when I pressed play on Torba’s second LP, II. 

Frankly, I was and still am surprised at how good the music is, especially because almost no one is talking about Torba (stream counts around 1,000 or less, video plays under 100). His creative process, as described in a press release, sounds intriguing: He favors out-of-tune instruments, over-processed samples, bit reduction, digital distortion, and a destructive streak that finds him hollowing out and fucking up this noise. “I see it every day—people not making extreme decisions anymore,” Torba writes. “They record the stuff clean, and then they try to find the tone during the production. I always try to do the opposite. I try to look for the sound immediately.”