Song of the Week: 'Face to Face' - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Face To Face - Siouxsie And Th...

This week's spotlight I find appropriate for October and the coming Halloween/Day of the Dead celebrations. Here's one of the Goth scene's most celebrated acts: Siouxsie and the Banshees. Does anyone else think that's one of the finest band names?

Siouxsie and the Banshees' mark on music include work with Robert Smith on The Glove album Blue Sunshine as well as some of The Cure's output; The Creatures project; and this track done with Danny Elfman for Tim Burton's film Batman Returns (still my personal favorite Batman flick); as well as other stuff I don't even know. It all amounts to a musical career that has left a permanent and impressive mark on the Goth music scene.

'Face to Face' features Elfman's weepy strings at their beautiful best, reminding us again that while he has his film score schtick that he repeats in numerous film scores, it's a good sound that he does quite well. The Banshees' music is pained, brooding and everything enticing and enjoyable about 80s Goth rock bands. And Siouxsie's voice is ever stunning: inviting, knowing, and dangerous.

'Face to Face' probably isn't their best song, but it's one of my favorites, not only for introducing me to Siouxsie and the Banshees, but because it just seems so dang sad. It's almost like you took all the darkness of the band's output and then sucked the wicked playfulnes out of it, leaving only the knowing pain and passion of people who have experienced obsession, betrayal and lost too many times for keeping count to still matter. Perhaps it's the film that always plants this song at night in the freezing snow, but that's where I end up when I listen to this song. It's a cold one and perfect for those late hours, when you feel perhaps like Laura Palmer and "just know [you're] going to get lost in those woods again tonight".

If you haven't spent some time with Siouxsie and the Banshees, I'd highly recommend you make them part of your Halloween celebrations.

Enjoy.