“I don’t like country & western, I don’t like rock music… I don’t like rockabilly! I don’t like much really do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!!”: CHRIS LOWE
As the title of the new SOFTWAVE EP suggests, every song on it has an aspiring story.
‘Aspire’ is the Danish synthpop duo’s first new body of work since they opened for OMD at the start of 2020 on the Scandinavian leg of their ‘Souvenir’ greatest hits tour.
The inspiration came after Catrine Christensen and Jerry Olsen were chosen to remix a couple of track for Andy Bell of ERASURE’s ‘Club Torsten’ collection. These songs document their own existential crisis over the lockdown period while seeking to motivate others to achieve new goals.
Opening ‘Aspire’ with the bittersweet superpop of ‘Thank You For Breaking My Heart’, it reflects on the positives of a toxic relationship ending, with shackles unlocked and new opportunities beckoning. Embracing the glistening shades of vintage ERASURE, this solo Christensen composition declares “Without you there’s no dark” as light shines again through this catchy Eurodisco with Olsen’s Clarkean interventions.
More rugged, ‘Supernova’ is the classic SOFTWAVE vein, with rousing verses and uplifting choruses over a backing track rich in counter melody akin to ‘Something Is Missing’. Dedicated to Andy Bell himself as a one of a kind worth looking up to, it also ably captures the bubbly poise of ERASURE.
With a fight back, ‘Don’t Bully Me Again’ gets its message across in a midtempo number seeking détente, while ‘Wake Up’ plays with rhythm variation to reinforce its tension, poignantly declaring “we’ve run out of fuel” as a challenging winter looms.
Ending with ‘This World’, this number is a highlight as it presents a darker austere than previous SOFTWAVE songs, with a depth that could point to a future direction. “We want people to go deeper and reflect on how they see the world today” said Christensen, “We just want people to think themselves”. Despite the sombre feel, it is a call to action that fits with the aspirational aims of this EP to encourage people not be afraid of the dark and to stick together.
As strange times continue, despite the adversity, there is always hope and it is a message that SOFTWAVE have provided clearly with ‘Aspire’.
Sister and brother duo MINIMAL SCHLAGER began in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic. Based between London and Berlin, Alicia Macanás and Francisco Parisi began to develop a brand of synth heavy dreampop that was debuted on their ‘Voodoo Eyes’ EP in 2021.
Using the services of producer Robbie Moore whose credits have included THE IRREPRESSIBLES and PEACHES, the Argentine siblings have released their first long playing record ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’.
Artful, alluring and enchanting, from the ghostly ‘Forbidden Fruit’ and introspection of ‘Fate’ to the gorgeous Europop escapism of ‘Rush’ and the seductive uplift of ‘Glow’, ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’ is a wonderful debut album that does exactly what is says on the tin!
Alicia Macanás and Francisco Parisi chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their concept of MINIMAL SCHLAGER and how with just ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’, the world would be a better place…
How is the sibling dynamic when making music compared with other bands that you have been in previously?
Alicia: We trust each other, which makes a lot of what we do easier when we both have strong personalities. Probably, the biggest difference between playing together and with other people is that there’s a level of tenderness that goes way further.
Would you have been working together had it not been for the pandemic? What were your own creative challenges, especially being in different countries?
Alicia: We got started in real life just before the pandemic locked us in different places. Luckily we both had our own studios at home, so we had the knowledge and the tools to work remotely and send each other projects as we progressed the songs. We used that first lockdown to work on the sound that would define the EP.
On your debut EP ‘Voodoo Eyes’, you chose to cover ‘Disorder’ by JOY DIVISION, what inspired your chosen arrangement?
Alicia: Around the time when we made ‘FMB’, we decided to do a JOY DIVISION cover and ‘Disorder’ just felt like the right one due to the state of the world. The whole process was very organic and spontaneous, from concept to end, there were merely a couple of days.
Do you have any favourite synths or tools when in the studio?
Fran: My favourite synth is my Minimoog, and I use a space echo delay on top of it for saturation and that extra dreamy feeling. I also really like toying around with the MicroKorg.
Unlike a lot of modern bands working on their debut album, you chose not to carry over any music from ‘Voodoo Eyes’ to ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’, was there any particular reason?
Alicia: ‘Voodoo Eyes’ was a reflection of the time when it was written and recorded. For the album, we were granted a scholarship by the Musicboard Berlin in Hellerau, Dresden, where we took our time to work together and craft what we had to say, and as the weeks passed we realised how the music had evolved and we had grown with it. We really wanted the album to have a story of its own.
You primarily sing in English, has this been a conscious decision for MINIMAL SCHLAGER, particularly with your cosmopolitan outlook?
Alicia: We have been living in an English environment for a long time and many of the situations we bring up actually happen in that language. Besides the actual sound of it, the phonemes, the phrasing, signing in your mother tongue can make you feel very exposed when addressing certain topics.
The opening song ‘Nana Del Caballo Grande’ is sung in Spanish but combines shoegaze with classical piano at the end, that is quite a combination?
Fran: Yes, I got hooked on the version that’s in ‘La Leyenda del Tiempo’ by Camarón de la Isla. It’s so layered and psychedelic, and I wanted to pay some tribute to it since I also was going through this obsession of Garcia Lorca and his work.
‘Rush’ was a song that made an important statement, what had been the mindset when you produced it?
Fran: We were both going through some stuff when we wrote it, and we both felt that we needed to calm down, take a breath and go on… I think that’s why we put that Angel chorus in it, we wanted it to be as epic as possible.
The endearing ‘Rush’ video was partly filmed on the London Underground, where did the idea come from and are there any funny stories you can tell from the filming?
Alicia: That part was spontaneous, but also something that I expected to happen sooner or later. We were on our way between locations when Francisco said “dance!” and I just went for it. Dancing is a key part of my life, there’s a good deal of physical expressiveness when I perform live, so I took the opportunity to bring out the vulnerability and the strength of the song amongst a group of strangers. Just like in a gig.
‘Before’ comes with a simple but effective video, how important is the visual aspect to MINIMAL SCHLAGER?
Alicia: Our music has been coming through as cinematic from the very first song, even before the ‘FMB’ video came out. We are both very drawn to visual arts when we are not making music, Francisco designs and I take photos. He’s been working on all the videos and makes sure that our image is consistent with the universe of our songs. We are attentive to pretty much every artistic aspect of this project.
‘Submission’ is quite different from the other songs on the album and is quite bouncy, how did it come together?
Fran: I was trying to write a dancey song and I came up with more of a punk riff / beat, and I think all got mixed up and some wavy 90s stuff came out.
‘Euphoria’ is almost electroclash in its construction, has the club environment been an important influence?
Fran: Not really… I was really trying to make a punk song, and I got really excited with the riff and went in that direction. I think there were other influences more important than the club scene.
Which are your own favourite songs from the album?
Alicia: I love them all, but if I have to pick… ‘Ridiculous’ is very relatable to my personality, I’m a bit of a dreamlike owl, hence the nighthawk floating in the outer space vibe of the song. It came out of a “wow, what’s going on!?” situation, a bit like ‘Fate’, ‘Euphoria’, ‘Glow’, ‘Submission’… you can spot a pattern in the album: we’ve been turning downer events into something more upbeat as a cleansing way to deal with it. But then you find the opposite at the end of the album: hopeful intentions dressed in devastating melancholy, such as ‘Prayers’; here, its sad mantra is what champions the purification ritual – it’s my go-to song when I am waiting to board a very early flight, the final organ note marks the day breaking.
Silly question but do you have any favourite Schlager songs?
Fran: More of a folky Schlager… but I really like ‘Die Blume aus dem Gemeindebau’ by Wolfgang Ambros.
How does it feel to be out playing live to audiences again?
Alicia: It’s very exciting. We’re giving the songs a different life with a drummer, Adrian Bang, with whom we are currently touring Europe. It’s beautiful to see people that otherwise wouldn’t have come across our music connecting with it.
What is next for MINIMAL SCHLAGER?
Alicia: For the moment we want to expand the ‘Love, Sex & Dreams’ tour and bring it to as many people as possible.
Fran: Work, work, work.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to MINIMAL SCHLAGER
Additional thanks to Billy Burrell-Williams at 9PR
Unlike the 2013 Paris press event when the band didn’t even know the name of their new album, DEPECHE MODE’s recent news conference at Berliner Ensemble at least revealed that the as-yet-unfinished long player due out in Spring 2023 is to be called ‘Memento Mori’, a Latin phrase meaning “Remember That You Must Die!”
As with the lamentable ‘Spirit’ from 2017, it has been produced by James Ford, best known for his work with poshboy folkies and Dave Gahan’s favourite band MUMFORD & SONS.
In front of an invited audience, Martin Gore and Dave Gahan spoke to their UK publicist Barbara Charone about “boring boring” Arsenal and possibly paying tribute to their late departed bandmate Andy Fletcher by playing an old song that he liked on the upcoming concert tour; how The Drumhead Christian Eigner and The Noodler Peter Gordeno will ruin it has yet to be confirmed.
There then came a few inaudible questions from those present and replying to that almost insanely predictable question about performing “unplugged”, even the now-ungratefully synthpop-phobic Dave Gahan responded to confirm that DEPECHE MODE are “an electronic band”!
The news of fresh DEPECHE MODE activity with new sketched on a fag packet artwork by Anton Corbijn has polarised the electronic music community again; while some have been getting rather over-excited, others have taken to Photoshop to portray Gahan and Gore as successors to Laurel & Hardy.
Using a key bunker scene from the acclaimed film ‘Downfall’, Chris Mines has assembled this highly amusing and entertaining send-up of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK – best known as the synthpop satirist SUDDEN CREATION who has never met Vince Clarke, his video focusses on numerous well-documented rants about DEPECHE MODE and Devotees over the years as a kind of greatest hits… please note, this video will probably be meaningless if your first language is German unless you turn the sound down!
The phrase “underwhelming arena show plonked into a stadium” of course makes an appearance and while ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK frequently likes to highlight Dave Gahan’s criminal past, it was during DEPECHE MODE’s acceptance speech into that dinosaur institution The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2020 when Dave Gahan remarked to his bandmates that “I dunno what the hell I would have been doing if I didn’t find music to be quite honest…”, that Fletch retorted “YOU’D HAVE BEEN STILL STEALING CARS DAVE!”
The ‘Memento Mori’ world tour comes to London Twickenham Stadium on Saturday 17th June 2023 and among the many ticket options are a Gold Circle Early Entry Package at £275. While this has been the only UK date confirmed so far, many observers predict that further dates where DEPECHE MODE will be able to downscale and plonk an underwhelming theatre show into several arenas will be announced; although many Devotees pride themselves in following a band can play in stadiums and in the rain, it is so much better indoors…
Many London-based electronic music fans will be relieved that they will have already purchased tickets on that date for PET SHOP BOYS at Wembley Arena where Messrs Tennant and Lowe will perform the songs that made them famous and that their audience actually want to hear.
However, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK predicts utter travel chaos in the capital as next door in Wembley Stadium, as occasional synthpop exponent Harry Styles will be presenting the fourth night of his ‘Love On Tour’ residency at the iconic Middlesex complex.
Unlike their beloved Arsenal, DEPECHE MODE have actually yet to play at Wembley Stadium…
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Chris Mines aka SUDDEN CREATION
Official news and updates on the new DEPECHE MODE album ‘Memento Mori’ and the 2023 tour of underwhelming arena shows plonked into stadiums can be found at http://www.depechemode.com
For their second album ‘Infinite Wellness’, the Berlin-based Nordic twosome ULTRAFLEX have got naughty.
Kari Jahnsen and Katrín Helga Andrésdóttir first came together in 2020 for a sexy sport and fitness inspired debut long player entitled ‘Visions Of Ultraflex’.
Compared to their debut, the approach to ‘Infinite Wellness’ feature more variations in style while being pop and more experimental simultaneously. There is more of a Mediterranean feel but there are inflections of funk, soul and even jazz, but it is all pushed passed through the ULTRAFLEX filter.
With a dose of ingles, opening song ‘Relax’ is a crystalline and gently funky. salute to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ‘Baby’ though the song is about romantic endeavours although it is also all about ULTRAFLEX’s creative chemistry; the end result is a bright and breezy romp with a solid electro-disco backbone.
With jazzier cocktail grooves and “Mascara down your cheeks, Bacardi in your drinks”, ‘Rhodos’ celebrates those favourite sunny destinations such as Mallorca, Ibiza and Rhodes, inspired by their own experiences of avoiding sunburn, binge drinking and laughing at pasty boys with beer bellies.
With a fluent flirtation of body language, ‘Mi Vuoi’ featuring Italian performance artist Kuntessa places steel drums and sax chatter over a clubby trance house setting to display their faux innocence and devious charm. With a more R ’n’ B slant and inspired by Usher’s ‘Climax’, the soulful and moody ‘Melting Away’ is less boisterous and adds ULTRAFLEX’s girly club rap.
With chilled sea air vibes, ‘Ultrasex’ is a provocative play on the duo’s name with the resulting groove, saxophone and ‘wah-wah’ recalling a vintage erotica soundtrack. Meanwhile ‘Under The Spell’ begins with nonchalant spoken words but sparkles as our heroines get seduced.
Closing with the gorgeous sweetness of ‘Run’, the laidback cuteness gets its point across in just 2 minutes.
Balancing out their electronic template with more live elements like drums, saxophone and guitar, ‘Infinite Wellness’ shows development in the ULTRAFLEX sound while continuing with the coy playfulness that made their first album so appealing.
First coming together in late 2018, Montreal trio DAWN TO DAWN are releasing their first full length album ‘Postcards From The Sun To The Moon’.
Comprising of Tess Roby, Adam Ohr and Patrick Lee, DAWN TO DAWNDAWN TO DAWN combines Roby’s forlorn introspection as heard on her first two solo albums ‘Beacon’ and ‘Ideas Of Space’ with Ohr and Lee’s dance-derived templates as THE BEAT ESCAPE.
With no-one style dominating over the other, this sonic sandwich has produced an intriguing sound to be savoured.
A slow burner in its realisation, the songs were created through communal jam sessions with off-the-cuff lyrical interventions before editing and processing. With a gentile start, ‘Anniversary’ drifts into the ether to welcome the listener into the world of DAWN TO DAWN with ethereal vocals, synthetic soundscapes and absorbing drum machine mantras.
‘Meridian’ is a fine example of this more uptempo approach of DAWN TO DAWN compared to solo Tess Roby productions; while the songs have a dreamy melancholy in common, moving from low to high in its fabulous multi-faceted vocal arrangement, there is a understated danceable quality within the subtle textures.
Expanding the template, ‘Care’ is interesting and unconventional in that a sung lyric doesn’t appear until almost halfway through the track. Nocturnal yet rhythmic, with an alluring folk-tinged vocal to offset the understated synthetic overtures, there are enigmatic skatted vocals in the vein of Dot Allison for the first two minutes before Roby presents her more coherent contralto over its hypnotic synthbass and crisp rhythmic construction.
Adopting a bouncing percussive groove, ‘Samba’ features some very absorbing multi-layers and manages to not be too forceful while almost harp led, ‘A Colour Named By You’ is much sparser and devoid of drum machine, coming over more audibly reminiscent of Tess Roby’s own solo work.
Presenting an important message, the trance soundscapes of ‘Ecology’ are crystalline and hypnotic in their aural expression which could even be considered to be romantic. ‘With U’ is proof that danceable rhythmic music can be understated and doesn’t need to be overtly loud with hints of Finnish duo SIN COS TAN in its pretty keyboard motifs.
Meanwhile ‘Stereo’ captures that joy of music which can be a communal or solitary experience, functional or incidental, is marvellously infectious with a breezy allure captured and understated synthesized danceability.
Acting as a fine and fitting closing number, the beautiful ‘Lanes’ is inspired by the tranquillity and seasonal deserts of British seaside towns like Brighton; with a soft forlorn air and the eerie moods of the late Julee Cruise, it displays an artistic kinship with Jorja Chalmers whose recent album ‘Midnight Train’ was inspired by her home seaside town of Margate.
‘Postcards From The Sun To The Moon’ is a wonderful toe-tapping record that captures the 2am wind down of a house party where some people still want to dance, albeit in more a more tranquil, less boisterous manner while others quietly do some tidying up but no-one wants to leave yet. As DAWN TO DAWN themselves say “this album is meant to be enjoyed with or without a fixed destination in mind”.
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