PREMIERE - Satellite Mile balances light and shade on debut darkwave album, 'The Water's Edge'

Gold Coast genre-bender, Satellite Mile unveils his debut full length album, ‘The Water’s Edge’ - an immersive journey into progressive darkwave soundscapes pulled together at Brisbane’s So Soap Studios.

Produced by Satellite Mile (aka Ben Love) and Peet Gardner, with mixing by the legendary Paul Gomersall (Kate Bush, George Michael, Genesis, Echo and the Bunnymen), the release features previous singles ‘Recurring Dreams’ and the radio edit of the title track, among 8 other tracks.

Bookended by instrumental pieces ‘Hypnagogia’ and ‘Hypnapompia’ - terms relating to entry and exit from a dream (a fitting analogy for the listener’s journey through a cinematic sonic world), the album explores themes of dreaming and otherworldly occurrences that are in constant play throughout.

A fully immersive listen, ‘The Water’s Edge’ blends the cold pulse of isolationist electronics with deeply human textures, unfolding like a digital fever dream—neon-lit and noir, a flood of zeroes and ones crashing over flesh and bone. Moody yet strangely inviting—especially on tracks like ‘Limits of Language’—Satellite Mile conjures a kind of lucid escapism, steering the listener away from the everyday and into a world built from lush synths, chiming guitars, and thunderous ‘80s industrial-goth rhythms.

There are traces of Violator-era Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel’s So, and the shadowy drama of Nine Inch Nails threaded throughout, coloured by darkwave hues and cinematic ambition. ‘The Water’s Edge’ feels like the soundtrack to that final, fragile hour before dawn—the album’s arc moves from cold darkness toward something warm and awakening, as if the light is just beginning to rise.

A meeting point of live and electronic instrumentation, The Water’s Edge treads a path through sinister grooves, off-kilter rhythms and cascading chordal movements. “Limits of Language” (the title borrowed from an Alan Watts lecture) offers a solo finger-style acoustic guitar interlude before the synthesizers remerge for the record’s second half.

The album has been pressed to vinyl by Brisbane’s own Suitcase Records and features photography and design by Jade Ferguson and Von Bishop respectively. 

The release will be followed with live performances, with Love joined by former George drummer Geoff Green for all future Satellite Mile shows, with an album launch set for August 30th at the Powerhouse in Brisbane.

‘The Water’s Edge’ - the full length debut album from Satellite Mile is available now on all streaming platforms.