**Review originally appeared at https://midnighttosix.wordpress.comThe Late Cord is a collaboration between singer Micah P. Hinson and John-Mark Lapham of The Earlies, who handles the music. The sound they make together is soaked in the goth/4AD-vibe of bands like This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance. That’s not to say that the music isn’t without warmth, with the first two songs – the eight-minute “Lila Blue” and “The Late Cord” – piquing my interest with good vocals and strange instrumentation. After those songs, things take a turn for the worse with “Chains/Strings” a song featuring nothing but a cello, which isn’t actually played by either band member! The next two songs, “My Most Meaningful Relationships Are With Dead People” and the closing-track “Hung On The Cemetery Gates” would make great Smiths songs, mostly because The Smiths wouldn’t actually make them into songs as morose as the titles indicate…unfortunately, The Late Cord do and the songs are as depressing and lifeless as the titles would make you think they are. In fact, “Hung On The Cemetery Gates” is little more than an atmospheric doodle, and hardy qualifies as a “song” in the traditional sense of the word. Not a great start for this side-project.