Group Rhoda - White Fur (Dark Entries)

A slice of synthesiser art-pop: "White Fur" by Group Rhoda effortlessly glides between soundworlds into vocoder-driven space electro. From the album Phase 5, out February 13th. Footage from "Transition De Phase Dans Les Cristaux Liquides" by Jean Painlevé, 1978.

Group Rhoda returns to Dark Entries with Phase 5, a sleek new LP of synthesiser‑led art‑pop. A fixture of the West Coast electronic underground, Mara Barenbaum has been shaping her own dream‑logic sound as Group Rhoda since 2009. Her writing remains fluid yet sharply honed, drifting between genres with an intuitive, synaesthetic ease that keeps her singular voice at the centre.

On Phase 5, her fifth album, Barenbaum leans into a quietly nondual perspective. The borders between fable and lived experience, between the organic and the engineered, between observer and observed, soften and slip away. Each track occupies a liminal zone, shifting form with understated precision. “Field Tone” moves from brooding Carpenter‑style electronics into vocoder‑lit space disco. “Dragon Pine” flickers between cosmic dub and a crisp, cybernetic dancehall pulse. “Aeolian Crossing”, a brisk darkwave cut, ultimately dissolves into negative space, like a wave pulling back from the shore.

Shawn Reed’s cover art (purple lilies caught in refracted light) sets the tone, while Ruud Lekx handles mastering. The digital edition lands via Katabatik, the label and sound system with which Barenbaum has maintained a close, decade‑long connection.