skeletons

Biography

Skeletons, more commonly known as Sidewalks and Skeletons, is the dark electronic project of British producer and guitarist Jake Lee, born 20 September 1991 and based in the United Kingdom.[2][3] Lee began making music as a child, initially crafting pieces that sounded like warped horror soundtracks, and later played as a metal guitarist before turning fully toward electronic production.[3][5] Around 2011 he started releasing material under the name Sidewalks and Skeletons, a metaphor he coined for the earth you walked and your bones – the things that remain after death – to reflect the bleak, cinematic atmosphere of his music.[3]

Developing his career largely as a DIY solo act, Lee issued a run of self-released albums and “Volumes” on Bandcamp from 2013 onward, gradually building a substantial cult following in online witch house and darkwave communities.[3][6] His music fuses witch house’s slowed, distorted textures and occult mood with darkwave, trap-influenced beats, and gothic and horror-film aesthetics, often composed in the early hours of the morning when, as he has said, he felt most immersed in fear and unreality.[3][6] Over time, he has refined this sound into more structured, melodic tracks while retaining the heavy atmosphere and cinematic tension that define his work, helping solidify Sidewalks and Skeletons as a key name in contemporary witch house and adjacent dark electronic scenes.[3][5][6]

Fun Facts

• Jake Lee chose the name “Sidewalks and Skeletons” as a metaphor for the earth you walked and your bones – what remains after death – to mirror the bleak, death-haunted feeling of his music.[3]
• Before focusing on witch house and darkwave, Lee played as a metal guitarist, and he has said you can still hear traces of this metal background in the weight and intensity of his electronic tracks.[5]
• Some of the earliest Sidewalks and Skeletons music was made at around 4 a.m., when Lee would stay up creating shrill synth textures influenced by horror and fear, describing that period as feeling ‘unhinged’ and on the edge of reality.[6]
• The first two Sidewalks and Skeletons “Volumes” were released only on Bandcamp, underscoring the project’s DIY, internet-driven rise within underground witch house circles.[6]

Members

• Matthew Mehlan

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Metal and horror soundtrack traditions - Lee has cited his background as a metal guitarist and his early attempts at making music that sounded like warped horror soundtracks as foundational to the Sidewalks and Skeletons project, shaping both his guitar-derived heaviness and his cinematic, fear-driven electronic atmospheres. (Early S&S Volumes on Bandcamp; horror-inspired early tracks composed before and around 2011) [Childhood–early 2010s[3][5][6]]

Key Collaborators

• Pastel Ghost (Vivian Moon) - Sidewalks and Skeletons has officially remixed material by Pastel Ghost, contributing to the cross-pollination within the modern witch house and dark electronic scenes. (Remix of Pastel Ghost’s track “Shadows”) [Mid–late 2010s[5]]

Artists Influenced

• Contemporary witch house and dark electronic producers (various) - Library overviews and scene write-ups consistently list Sidewalks and Skeletons alongside core witch house acts as a key reference point, indicating that newer producers in the genre look to Lee’s blend of horror aesthetics, trap beats, and darkwave textures as a stylistic template. (Influence inferred from recurring inclusion on genre primers and compilations such as the Occult Box compilation featuring the track “Exhume”.) [Mid-2010s–present[3][5]]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. Goth (White Light)
2. Goth (Slowed + Reverb)
3. Goth (Sped up + Reverb)
4. 4am
5. Eternal Rest (Exorcism)
6. White Light (White Light)
7. Shadow (Exorcism)
8. Goth (Slowed + Reverb)
9. DEATHDREAMER
10. Dethereal

External Links

• Spotify
• MusicBrainz