Dead like a black window
And white clouds and eraser
Hold tight and the end will begin
Come alive on the other side
If I make it, I’ll be stuck in this place
The mirror rarely tells the truth cleanly. It flatters, distorts, doubles, and accuses, turning the face into evidence and the self into a suspect. Desire, decay, vanity, and death all gather at the glass, staring back with the same painted eyes.
Omar Doom, also known through his darkwave and EBM project Straight Razor, has released “Reflections,” a new collaborative single with acclaimed French producer Arnaud Rebotini. And now the track is accompanied by a striking new music video steeped in gothic romance, death-disco atmosphere, and decadent noir imagery, marking the beginning of a new chapter for Doom ahead of a forthcoming collaborative album co-produced with Rebotini.
Best known on screen for his work in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds, Doom has spent the last several years building a severe, sensual musical world rooted in darkwave, EBM, techno, and post-punk. Recent releases such as “The Curse,” “Casualty,” and his hard synth-driven cover of The Cure’s “One Hundred Years” have sharpened that vision into something cinematic, club-hardened, and apocalyptic.
With “Reflections,” Doom pushes further into that territory. The song is built around a heavy, bass-driven foundation, laying a deep and ominous pressure beneath an instantly catchy beat. The EBM rhythm hits with a menacing snap, revving the pulse forward while cold synth lines coil around Doom’s commanding vocals. It carries the perfume of goth and darkwave, but its engine is fully electric: lean, lethal, and alive with movement.
In the chorus, strange synthesizers buzz and contort into the mix, adding a playful but uneasy texture to the track. Rebotini’s presence gives the song added force and depth, his production bringing a cold cinematic precision that suits Doom’s apocalyptic romanticism. The back half kicks harder, with layered synth effects and small production touches cutting through the track before it winds down into icy pads and lingering unease.
“The song feels like romance at the edge of the apocalypse,” says Omar Doom. “Arnaud and I wanted ‘Reflections’ to feel seductive, doomed, and strangely triumphant at the same time. Like dancing at the end of the world.”
Lyrically, “Reflections” reads like a fevered dispatch from a self already split in two. Images of a “black window,” a “black ghost in the corridor,” and a body with “no beating heart” suggest a figure trapped between glamour and erasure, performance and possession. The repeated cry of “Heat” becomes less a release than a pressure point, a pulse still kicking somewhere inside the song’s deadened corridors.
The video for “Reflections” opens like a funeral procession arriving at a pleasure palace: a black limousine pulls up to a pale green Gothic mansion as the title blooms across the screen in grand yellow script. From there, Doom’s world turns into a strange courtship with death, vanity, and the self. A skeletal glove glides across the car’s interior; a veiled figure waits behind black fringe; a tuxedoed attendant appears with ritual precision. Inside, Doom moves through an ornate estate of red drapery, gold mirrors, antique lamps, four-poster decadence, and eerie devotional objects, with Matthew Lineham’s artwork making a sly cameo on the walls.
The mystery woman remains just out of reach: a silhouette, a mourner, a lover, an omen. She appears in a black veil and gloves, accompanied by the flash of a skull ring and the hush of a secret being passed from hand to hand. Who is she? The video gives the answer only if you know where to look: in the reflection. As Doom faces himself in the mirror, the clip turns its gothic romance inward, suggesting that the seduction, the threat, and the ghost may all be part of the same private haunting.
Watch the video for “Reflections” below:
Arnaud Rebotini is a French musician, DJ, composer, producer, singer, and co-founder of Black Strobe, the Parisian project whose fusion of electro, rock, EBM, and death-disco helped define a severe strain of European club music. He has also released music under the name Zend Avesta and is renowned for his use of analog synthesizers, drum machines, and sequencers. In 2018, Rebotini won the César Award for Best Original Score for 120 battements par minute, further cementing his reputation as one of French electronic music’s most formidable figures.
To celebrate the release, Omar Doom will perform live at The Viper Room in West Hollywood on June 26 alongside MVTANT, Grizz Cll, Jet Cemetery, and Post Crucifixion, with DJ sets by DJ Sins. The night promises dark synths, industrial energy, and gothic excess in one of Los Angeles’ most storied venues.
- June 26 — West Hollywood, CA — The Viper Room
“Reflections” is available now on all streaming platforms.
Listen to “Reflections” via Spotify below:
Follow Omar Doom / Straight Razor:
Follow Arnaud Rebotini:
The post “Black Ghost in the Corridor” — Omar Doom and Arnaud Rebotini Wander Through a Mirror Darkly in Video for “Reflections” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
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