The Birthday Party – Pathways – Album Review

Pathways, the new album by darkwave band The Birthday Party, doesn’t offer comfort. It doesn’t pretend to have anything to give. It’s just there—distant, detached. Present but with no intention of helping. Like someone who sees you drowning and just sits beside the water. There’s no drama here, just a slow, constant weight pressing down. Not sadness but something duller, more permanent. Like background radiation.

 

Chibi’s voice isn’t looking for connection. It floats through each track like a thought you didn’t mean to speak aloud. Faint. Controlled. Almost numb.

“Cruel Love” hit me like something I’d forgotten to grieve. I played it again. Then again. After a while, I wasn’t sure if the tears were from loss or recognition. Maybe both. Or just maybe, it didn’t matter.

 

The lyrics don’t hide. They don’t dress up what they’re saying. There’s pain in them—quiet, constant, already accepted. The melodies don’t soften it. They just carry it along like someone folding a letter they’ll never send. This isn’t the kind of album that tries to make anything better. It doesn’t move toward hope. It just keeps you company in the stillness. Maybe that’s all some of us can ask for.

Will I come back to it? Of course. Will it help? I hope not
Score 9/10
Track List
1. Sleep Tonight
2. All of You
3. The Vanishing Game
4. Pathways
5. Whisper
6. Wish
7. Faces
8. Cruel Love
Label – Metropolis
Release – 1st May 2025

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