Audiopile Review: With releases from Nourished By Time, Vanessa Bedoret and Mark William Lewis under their belt, UK imprint Scenic Route continue to wow, this time offering up the debut full length from Marina Zispin, the duo of Bianca Scout and Martyn Reid. While Reid might be a new name to some of you out there, dark-pop vocalist and musician Bianca Scout might have already caught your attention via last year’s skeletal-soul-pop album for Sferic, her guest spot on Space Afrika’s Honest Labour, or perhaps even her collabs with Klein that date back to the start of both their careers. The duo actually debuted back in 2023 with an overlooked EP on Night School and also made an appearance together on Scout’s aforementioned solo album last year, but this full length marks them settling into a fresh reconfiguration of cold wave moodiness and synth pop classicism, all while wriggling in the starry waves of Detroit electro amidst a blinkered ambient glow. While many of the cold/minimal wave revivalists of recent years have repeatedly left us wanting more (apologies to most of the Italians Do It Better catalog), Marina Zispin stray just enough off the well-trodden path to avoid being mere copycats. Sure, there’ll be plenty of familiar tones and gothic vibes—the classic sound of icy synths, splashy drum machines, and Scout’s ethereal coo trading off with Reid’s disaffected coolness will be enough to propel the bat cave loyalists on to the dance floor. But the duo also seem to nod to Drexciya with their touches of shimmering electro that edge it all toward the cosmos. Another stunner from Scenic Route.

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Now You See Me, Now You Don’t is the continuing journey through the ever evolving sound of Marina Zispin AKA Bianca Scout and Martyn Reid.
Marina Zispin delivers spectral sounds that guide us through twilight spaces where time and memory converge, blending dark historical echoes with profound meditations on reintegration and fragility.

Synth-pop duo Marina Zispin return with their highly anticipated album Now You See Me (Now You Don’t), set for release on March 7 via Scenic Route.