The duo of Harry Parsons and Elliott Butt (Sweetboy Musik) in Ctrl+V (pronounced Paste) are like a rock band trapped inside of a nightclub. The Newfoundland rave punk band is influenced by darkwave, hard rock, and a dash of punk music.
Their song, “Curtain,” is about a person being infatuated with someone, and not being able to do anything about it. Parsons was drawn to the symbolism of a curtain and the visual of a curtain closing at the end of a play. Thus, the storyline of the song became a fictional play, in which one character is battling for the affection of another character.
Once the song was written, Ctrl+V sought the guidance of Ted Sablay for feedback (touring guitarist with The Killers and a mentor of Parsons), and had the song mixed by Mark Needham (who mixed The Killers’ debut album, Hot Fuss).
“This song is more or less a ballad, but it’s produced like a heavy/hard-rock song,” says Parsons. “That production style is what Ctrl+V is all about… we take really sweet, romantic, glittery sounds and serve them up heavy.”