Launched by Troubleman Unlimited label maven Mike Simonetti and musician Johnny Jewel to release a particular strain of nocturnal, synthesizer-focused electronic pop, the "After Dark" series of compilations on Italians Do It Better epitomized their label and a new, burgeoning sound that had been developing since the early 2000s. On Chromatics "Night Drive" album of 2007, Jewel's own band alongside Nat Walker, and Ruth Radalet, jumped from their dissonant post-punk sound heard on "Plaster Hounds", to a fully-formed subgenre unto themselves. The album's spare take on a brooding electro-synth sound was informed as much by no wave, as it was by Italo-disco, synthwave, and post-punk, and presaged the current revivals seen in these subgenres. Chromatics further centered the label at the genre's locus with 2012's "Kill for Love". That album, five years in development, came about through being approached by Nicolas Winding Refn to soundtrack the director's high style gloss and atmosphere, which he refined into a stylebook of his own with 2011's arthouse breakout film, "Drive". While the soundtracking task went to Cliff Martinez, Jewel appeared in songs by Chromatics and Desire, woven into the soundtrack to the film, alongside French synthwave producer, Kavinsky. In a similar turn of events, both the Chromatics new material, and explicitly the abundance of new work seen by Jewel, have come from another film commission of a singular variety.
Approached by David Lynch, after their track "Shadow" was presented to the director by his musical collaborator, Dean Hurley, Jewel and the band were then invited to supply music for the fictional Roadhouse setting in the revival of his iconic "Twin Peaks" series. This commission was presented in a cryptic fashion typical of the director, with no material to screen, or score, Jewel elaborated for Consequence of Sound, in "The World Spins: Johnny Jewel Talks 'Twin Peaks', David Lynch, and What’s Next for Chromatics", on the open-ended nature of producing new work for a series unseen. Jewel states; "So, I just began recording more and more unsolicited stuff and kept sending it to David. And he got ears on it, and it just sort of unraveled. At first, I was a little shy. Angelo Badalamenti is untouchable. His work on "Twin Peaks" is phenomenal. So, it wasn’t something I was taking lightly at all. I felt compelled to keep recording music and a series of improvisations. I think I sent them about five to seven hours of stuff. In the end, I recorded over 20 hours". While a majority of the Twin Peaks commission isn't presented within the soundtrack for the series, it has been anthologized in two collections, "Windswept" and "Themes for Television", and heavily informs the sound of Chromatics' forthcoming album, "Closer to Grey". Touring the west coast this summer alongside labelmates Desire and In Mirrors, the fruits of this prolific period for Jewel and his collaborators will be on display next month at Seattle's Showbox Sodo. All of which stands in stark relief to the near-miss the composer and band suffered some years before, as "Johnny Jewel Destroyed Every Copy of Chromatics 'Dear Tommy' After Near-Death Experience".
