Inside CORLYX’s Dark, Danceable World of Death Pop

Some bands evolve. Others dissolve and rebuild themselves entirely. Corlyx feels like the latter, a project shaped as much by movement as by sound, drifting between Los Angeles, the UK, Italy, and beyond, absorbing fragments of each place along the way.

What emerges is a dark, seductive universe where goth, post-punk, and electronic textures collide under the self-defined banner of “Death Pop.” In this conversation, Caitlin Stokes, singer of Corlyx, lets us into that world, one built on contradiction, reinvention, and the refusal to ever stand still.

Hi! Corlyx started in Los Angeles and now exists somewhere between the UK and Italy. How has living in transit reshaped the emotional and sonic identity of the band?

Caitlin Stokes: It’s definitely unusual how many times we’ve moved, so yes, right now our drummer is back in England, and now the rest of us are in Italy, but we go back and forth a lot. The new record we are working on with our live drummer has a lot of 70’-80’s U.K. Post-punk / goth rock influences, even some dream pop, and that’s exactly the vibe I wanted to take Corlyx in with our 5th studio album.

We also lived in Berlin for 3 years and I think that affected the electronic aspects of the band a great deal, each band member now (4), has a vast variety of influences so I really needed to steer the ship in a clear vision this time, a lot of our records are more chaotic, aka FUN, but I have a clear vision for this next chapter and it’s been amazing seeing it come together so perfectly as I imagined.

You describe your sound as “Death Pop,” which feels both seductive and confrontational. What does that phrase actually mean to you beyond genre labels?

It can be quite annoying listing all the genres your band does, I know this isn’t an issue unique to us, we are darkwave and post-punk and sometimes synthpop with a dash of punk and alt rock, so yeah, I just kind of wanted a phrase that’s bringing everything together, but who knows, I might change it.

This next record is less experimental and more cohesive; the songwriting is by far our best work, and that’s really hard to say coming off the back of “Purple Pain,” so I’ll let the audience decide in the end. Corlyx is fierce yet soft, it’s inquisitive and provocative, I love creating unconventional ways to slap melodies together, but it will always be gorgeous.

I think genres/labels help with music discovery and marketing, so it’s a must these days; we do not have the luxury anymore to just make music and leave the rest to the professionals; everyone’s gotta pimp themselves out, and genres/ labels are necessary.

The band’s evolution, from industrial dark electro to 80s goth and post-punk, feels organic rather than strategic. Was this shift intentional, or did the music simply follow who you were becoming?

The shift out of industrial is also not unique to this band, yes, you are correct. I think a lot of subculture bands go in and out of various goth genres, really happy to be one of those bands. I get bored easily. No one is getting rich here. We need to express ourselves without limitation or worrying that we are doing music wrong.

If you like to make all your records sound the same, fine, that’s cool, I don’t, I really can’t stand it, every record needs to have an Era. I’ve seen plenty of artists quit and start new projects cuz they feel like they aren’t allowed to change the vibe, that’s actually sad to me, for real, I feel bad when artists feel this way.

Your live shows are famously more intense and uptempo than the records, often turning the audience into a dancefloor. What do movement, dancing, sweating, and losing control mean within your darker aesthetic?

Yes, especially the last few now with the live drums, it’s feeling like a proper goth rock honestly, but very danceable, I actually love to dance, it’s what got me into goth clubs in the first place as a kid, my older friends would sneak me into The Castle in Tampa, and that just solidified my love for spooky dancing, I never lost that.

I want Corlyx to bring the goth club dance floor to our live shows, but with rock energy, Brandon definitely helps deliver that with his devilish riffs. Losing control, absolutely, it’s a blur during, I honestly don’t know what’s going on half the time, I think I’m casting spells, actually.

Caitlin, your vocals are often described as haunting, but also intimate and emotionally exposed. How do you protect yourself when performing deeply personal material night after night?

I think it’s partly being a Leo, we love to suffer on a stage. I’ve always been the most open person in the group; I have no shame, mostly because I have a deep understanding of my own humanity. Why should I have regret or be insecure when there are literal monsters in this world?

I know I do my best to be a good person, and I know I’m not perfect, and that’s beautiful. I spent way too much in my youth worrying about my appearance or how others saw me, and I’m sure many can relate, but as I went through obstacles and came out on the other side, the biggest lesson was: fuck it, mate, I am who I am. I probably overshare, and that’s adorable.

So yes, sometimes there’s tears on stage, I’m re-living some painful memories, but that’s what makes music so powerful, performance is all about connection and creating an intimate moment with your audience, it’s not about how good you are at singing or how well you play guitar, it’s connecting with the people who left their warm home to come see you play.

“Purple Pain” unfolds more like a universe than an album, fragmented, excessive, emotional, sometimes contradictory. Was this double format a refusal of discipline, or the only honest way to hold everything you wanted to say at once?

I love this summery, yes to both, we had a lot of different ideas we wanted to get out, also this whole release 6 singles thing per album was weighing on me, it was still a relatively new strategy, but I guess now I’m more comfortable with it since it’s here to stay, but at the time I was like who is gonna buy a record where half of it is already out?

So I just felt compelled to keep writing, and boom, 19 tracks came in no time. Although it was a big undertaking, and there are so many amazing songs that fell through the cracks streaming-wise, some of the best songs on the album haven’t gotten hardly any love on streaming, and that is a shame, so yeah, I think that will be our only double album, but proud that we pulled it off, and I’m so proud of that record.

There are so many different styles of songs on the record its an explosion of ideas. With this next album, I’ve narrowed us in a lot more, I think all of this was mean to be this way to get us where we are going…surprise, it’s more goth rock-ish.

The record moves between grief, sensuality, camp, and playfulness. Do you see goth culture as a space where contradictions can safely coexist?

Oh absolutely, I even have a playlist called Unserious Goth Bangers, and then the next song is about my mother dying….it’s a window into all the moods and elements in the subculture.

I’ve been a goth since 1996, so I’ve seen and heard it all, especially having experienced the subculture in so many countries and cities like London, Milan, Berlin, LA, Tampa, Paris, Prague, Leipzig, too many to list, and I love how every country does it a bit different, it’s truly so important to Goth Holiday I feel, whether that’s going to a festival abroad or just infamous goth clubs in big cities, I think it’s a really amazing aspect that you can find your people and your music all over the world.

Goth is about romanticising darkness, and that can be intense, or it can be humorous, or sad, or magical. There is no correct way to romanticise dark themes, just explore and create. There is more to Goth than cliches.

There’s a cinematic quality to “Purple Pain,” almost like a dark, neon-lit film unfolding track by track. If this album were a movie, what kind of story would it tell?

Loads of drama, yes, I guess it would be my life story, full of weirdos and mishaps, glamour and decay, something directed by John Waters.

You’ve shown many faces of Corlyx over the years: electro, synthpop, goth rock. Do you ever worry about being too fluid, or is multiplicity the core of your identity?

It’s my superpower, as I said above, I just gotta be free to do whatever I want, I never actually sat down and said okay Corlyx needs to sound like this or that, we make the music we love and that can sound like goth rock or darkwave but we never really sound like any other band, call us unconventional or experimental or whatever, but it’s not boring, and I think this band has attracted an audience that gets excited for the next Era, they know its coming, and they know it’s going to be different than the last.

The world feels increasingly loud, unstable, and emotionally exhausting. In your private lives, outside of stages and studios, what do you hold onto to stay human rather than hardened?

Yes, these times keep getting darker, almost to the point of psychosis. I especially need to take care of my mental health, my mother was schizophrenic and died very young because of it, so I really do not want to take my current sanity for granted. I am very careful about what I let in; this means many breaks from world issues.

I live in a peaceful town in the Italian countryside, I have cats, and we have music. I’m learning to speak new languages and trying to become as cultured as possible. I try to stick to things I can change, like helping my friends and family. I’m not an activist I do not have the mental power to be angry all the time, to fight, but I’m glad there are people out there who are doing the fighting for all of us, but I do think, things are insanely rigged, and the people calling the shots for our lives are disgusting evil decrepit violent liars, they kill for power, they kill for pleasure, they destroy everything, and they control everything.

I think if you can escape the main systems they try to put us in, and create a sacred community, then you have a tiny bit of actual freedom. I want everyone to be free. I focus on the small wins.

In moments of solitude, when no one is watching, and nothing needs to be performed, what doubts or questions return most often, and how do you sit with them rather than escape them?

I worry about my health, I have a lot going on, and it’s a constant struggle just to be okay. So I really have to take extremely good care of myself. I will never see very old age, but that’s sort of freeing, too. I have been told this my whole life by doctors, so I guess I’m okay with a shorter life, but I do feel for my husband, who will most likely be alone and old, we talk about it, and it does worry me. Still, there are things we have to accept, and my legacy will be the music.

That could potentially live for hundreds of years into the future; that’s super amazing to think about.

If this life were stripped down to a single lesson you’re still learning, what would it be, and who are you becoming as you learn it?

Well, at my age, it’s dwindled down a lot in the learning department, I think our 20’s and 30’s are the stages for these big ones. The life I managed to create now, out of pure chaos, pain, and humbling circumstances, is quite heroic, so I guess what’s left for me is to remain in gratitude and try not to let myself fall into depression again.

I know the signs, and I know what to do when it’s coming. Everything is incredibly good at this point in my personal life because I made these decisions, so I’d like to enjoy the fruits of my learning through anguish. I am very much in my magical Era, I am cultivating whimsical realities.

I can’t change the world, but I can show you how to overcome adversity, I can show you that embracing your darkness brings you to light, and I can show you that a love for your craft will always guide you to purpose.

As Corlyx continues to blur borders between genres, cities, and emotional states, the project moves forward with the same restless energy that defines its sound. The next chapter is already unfolding, not just in the studio, but on stages across Europe:

Tour Dates:

May 29, Nantes, FR
May 30, Paris, FR
July 25, Albenga, IT
August 21-23, Stella Nomine Fest, DE
August 29, Prague Gothik Treffen, PR
October 24, Bochum, DE
November 21, Weissenhäuser Strand, DE

Follow Corlyx on:
Facebook | Instagram | Spotify

Cover photo: Ginger Snaps