Album Notes

"HALO STAR is brilliant! Bret Helm's vocals are mesmerizing, pulling me in with every delicious note.  This is what I have been waiting to hear from Black Tape all along, I just never knew it until now." - Gothic Beauty Magazine


Black tape for a blue girl is back with HALO STAR, their stunning 9th album. At once a departure and a return, HALO STAR's twelve stark songs take a melodic route while the rhythm hammers in dangerous nails. Songwriter/lyricist Sam Rosenthal meshes driving, male goth vocal-stylings with heavenly female voices and forceful percussion and acoustic guitar to create an involving album both rhythmic and lyrically engaging. In this, one of America's originators in the darkwave genre returns to its origins while creating an amazing new album sure to please fans old and new alike.


well halo come down from the stage - fell down - he slumps into somebody's arms
wounds torn open, desire exposed. we grab for a piece of his soul.
"i have been broken, divided, annihilated."
a thousand dreams left in bloody heaps. halo at the center, shouting and whispering truth...


Vocalist Bret Helm is here to bring Sam's vision to life; Elysabeth Grant's sensual vocals spotlight a quarter of HALO STAR's tracks. Multi-instrumentalist Michael Laird provides acoustic guitar, percussion and dulcimer; Bret plays guitar and bass. Also featured are Lisa Feuer on flute and Vicki Richards on violin. Sam contributes the electronics, faux piano, and even has a Moog solo!

"Our live audience really responded to the percussion and guitar we incorporated into our shows over the last couple of years," Sam points out. "I asked Michael and Bret to get more involved in the recording, because I wanted to play to that strength. This is an album that sounds like a 'band' - a concept that might surprise some, coming from black tape for a blue girl. I reduced my keyboard parts to the fundamentals on many songs, which better allows you to hear what the others are playing!"

Black tape for a blue girl has always pushed the boundaries, exploring new sounds and moods within the Darkwave genre. With HALO STAR, they appear in a new form that's unnervingly familiar.

Packaged in a jewel box with extensive 20 page booklet.
On tour September and October.