Hollow Shift - Reload

​Hollow Shift

Reload
self-released; 2025

​By ​Dino DiMuro​​

Hollow Shift are an electronic duo featuring keyboardist Alexander Zamparas  and singer-artist Jessica Bell. They describe their music as "blending pulsing synth work with a raw post-punk edge" and indeed their Instagram page teems with goth imagery and post-punk icons like Patti Smith. Following up their 2025 EP Sun Won't Die they've just released a new collection titled Reload that they hope will take listeners "even deeper into territory that is both danceable and emotionally intense." 

The differences in this new music are the more immersive, kinetic rhythms and textures, "without losing that tension between movement and introspection that makes Hollow Shift feel like a room you can't escape from." Lyrically the songs seek to conjure "heat-soaked nights, inner turmoil and the fractured edges of human connection." 

"Play the Game" sets the stage with haunting, mournful vocals, deep tones and thumping electronic rhythms. Once into the song proper, my brain pinged with memories of 80's synth rockers like The Eurythmics, The Divinyls or Human League. Though the melodies are fairly simple and repetitive, the synth harmony line is a direct descendant from the soundtracks of Giorgio Moroder. "All Alone" slows down a bit, giving Bell some room for more human, haunting vocals that recall the eerie magic of Kate Bush.

The title track "Reload" is clearly the star of this set, as it jumped right out at me during my first couple plays. It's the kind of song you think you've heard before, and for me it has the same vibe and urgency of "The Metro" by Berlin, one of my all-time favorite singles. The beat is irresistible and the arrangement benefits from diverse synth patches and guitar-like chords. Speaking of guitar, "Heat" is based on a fuzz guitar-like riff (though probably keyboards) giving this one more of a rock feel. This is the kind of track where the chorus is basically a continuation of the verses, though a bit "wider" and filled with darkly beautiful Bell vocals. "Fatal" concludes the set with aggressive synth patterns, tectonic beats and higher-pitched, breathy vocals that reminded me of Tanya Donnelly, thus tying the 80's and 90's together in a neat circle. The lyrics are among the spookiest, with references to cyanide and suicide, and Bell is nicely up-front in delivering them!

If you'd asked me if anything new could be achieved with these genres, I'm not sure I would have said yes until I heard this cool E.P. See for yourself!

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