Following up ‘I Die For Love’, his recent collaboration with Sund and his own ‘$auna Mu$ik’ EP from 2023, KNIGHT$ channels his inner Patrick Cowley on his latest single ‘Supernatural Lover’.
A danceable delight recorded in Munich, ‘Supernatural Lover’ is saucily “custom built with velocity” as a throbbing Hi-NRG ditty that will delight fans of DEAD OR ALIVE, BRONSKI BEAT and BOYTRONIC; it tells the story of a paranormal love encounter and exclaims “you gave me the fright of my life”!
Having gone down very well supporting CHINA CRISIS on selected dates in 2024, the release of ‘Supernatural Lover’ coincides with KNIGHT$’ upcoming stint opening for Andy Bell on the German leg of his tour presenting songs from his glitterball flavoured solo album ‘Ten Crowns’ and a number of ERASURE evergreens. It is a pounding pairing that has so much disco potential.
KNIGHT$ is the project of James Knights, previously of SCARLET SOHO. But since going solo, he has been making waves throughout Europe with his sparkling Gelato flavoured Britalo which debuted in long playing form with 2019’s ‘Dollars & Cents’ and featured productions by ITALOCONNECTION for full authenticity. His abilities have also seen Knights become a member of BOYTRONIC with original member Holger Wobker.
KNIGHT$ has been called “an animated Andrew Eldritch fronting FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD” although ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK thinks more Richard Butler fronting PET SHOP BOYS to sum up his look. His energetic pulsing electronic style has been perfect for the live arena and the often immediate rapport he builds with new audiences that then quickly switches into a frenzy makes him a perfect opening act. As the late holiday entrepreneur Sir Fred Pontin used to say: “BOOK EARLY!”
With songs like ‘Boom Bang Boom!’, ‘What Planet Did You Come From? (Baby)’ and ‘Hi-NRG Crisis’ already in the can and out, the second KNIGHT$ album can’t be too far away!
‘Supernatural Lover’ is released by Specchio Uomo on 13th June 2025, available as a digital single from https://knights101.bandcamp.com/
KNIGHT$ opens for Andy Bell on the following 2025 German dates:
Since their first album ‘Disco Romance’ in 2006, vocalist Sally Shapiro and producer Johan Agebjörn have had their brand of Italo-tinged melancholic pop enjoyed by the music cognoscenti all over the world.
After two more albums ‘My Guilty Pleasure’ and ‘Somewhere Else’ as SALLY SHAPIRO, the duo retired and Agebjörn embarked on a variety of solo and collaborative work including with Samantha Fox, Ryan Paris, Yota and Mikael Ögren. Although Sally had made guest appearances on Agebjörn’s solo tracks, perhaps unexpectedly they signed to Italians Do It Better in 2021 and returned with an album ‘Sad Cities’ the following year; it was almost like they had never been away.
However, this new long player ‘Ready To Live A Lie’ is possibly the duo’s darkest yet. The dreamy moonshine optimism of first love on ‘Disco Romance’ has shifted towards a midlife narrative that encompasses struggles in long-term relationships, love triangles, boredom, resentment and loneliness. While the words have a bittersweet weariness, sonically the music remains supreme. As on ‘Sad Cities’, Italian Do It Better head honcho Johnny Jewel joins Agebjörn at the mixing desk in keeping with the label’s house aesthetic.
The album gets an energetic yet atmospheric start with ‘The Other Days’. But with syndrums and piano runs as well as a SALLY SHAPIRO twist, ‘Hard To Love’ co-written with one-time Agebjörn collaborator QUEEN OF HEARTS offers that breezy melancholic air of PET SHOP BOYS; and speaking of whom, the cover of ‘Rent’, which came out as a single in 2023, provides a first person account of its relationship dependency narrative with a Nordic wispiness.
‘Purple Colored Sky’ provided an effervescent pop statement but as Sally would be ‘Happier Somewhere Else’, this gets reflected in the latter’s paced back tone. The marvellous ‘Guarding Shell’ though explores post-relationship trust issues and drops in the same D-50 preset used on OMD’s ‘Big Town’ in the intro before hitting classic SALLY SHAPIRO mode.
With looser jazzier rhythms while planted firmly in disco, ‘Hospital’ offers something a bit different as its keyboard lines get caught in a wonderful spin while ‘Did You Call Tonight’ borrows a topline from RÖYKSOPP ‘Remind Me’ for some sparkling goodness and vocodered responses to the chorus call.
The Euro-house drive of ‘Oh Carrie’ bangs on the album’s home straight complete with ivory stabs, gently spoken verses and uplifting sung choruses before closing with two ballads. The love lament ‘He’s Not You’ is the synthier of the pair while ‘Rain’ goes the full piano room with suitably forlorn vocals before the appearance of choir samples, Rhodes and field recordings.
Johan Agebjörn said of the album’s darker demeanour “We live in the era of lies. We deceive ourselves, our partners, and those around us”, but despite the tales of deceit running throughout the album, ‘Ready To Live A Lie’ paradoxically comes as a rather uplifting listening experience in its relatable themes. As Sally put it “Perhaps, at times, we need these deceptions to get by. Maybe loneliness is somehow inescapable and we simply do our best to navigate life.”
The sibling masters of the musical vignette SPARKS are back with their 28th (yes, count ‘em!) album ‘MAD!’.
As with their more recent albums ‘Hippopotamus’, ‘A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip’ and ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ which coincidentally all reached No7 in the UK charts, they remain as enjoyably idiosyncratic as ever with this new offering touching on all aspects of their past from operatic art rock, eccentric chamber pop, synth and new wave.
The history of SPARKS does not need repeating; 53 years since their first album and with ‘The SPARKS Brothers’ documentary winning new fans and seeing the return of others who may have passed through, Russell and Ron Mael show no signs of letting up, pleasing themselves and pleasing their fans.
Setting the scene for ‘MAD!’, it opens with a boisterous word laden art rock statement that SPARKS are gonna ‘Do Things My Own Way’. ‘JanSport Backpack’ provides a vocally layered BEATLES-esque march while ‘Hit Me, Baby’ is a quirky percussive rock out rattling next to whirring synths.
The melodramatics of ‘Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab’ offers a standout mixing chunky synth stabs and surf six string. Also in amongst it all are the pulsing ballad ‘My Devotion’ and the adventurous ‘Don’t Dog It’, although much more restrained, ‘In Daylight’ surprises in a diversion from the busier movements so far. However the archetypical SPARKS returns for the choppy orchestrations of ‘I-405 Rules’ while the cross of electronica, chorals and gratuitous violins on ‘A Long Red Light’ provides another variation on the theme.
Of two more conventionally strummed rock tunes, ‘A Little Bit Of Light Banter’ outshines ‘Drowned In A Sea Of Tears’ as an amusing commentary on hegemonic conversation that musically recalls the pomp and circumstance of 1975’s ‘Indscreet’ album, but the strident arm waving singalong of ‘Lord Have Mercy’ provides a fitting finish that delightfully wouldn’t go amiss in that era’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Throughout ‘MAD!’, the production is top notch; Russell is in fine voice with his extraordinary range while Ron’s arrangements pack in rather a lot into songs which average the 4 minute mark. In ‘MAD!’, the continued combination of the captivating singer and the stoic music man provides a wonderful ambiguous satire of this increasingly crazy world for all to enjoy.
‘MAD!’ is released by Transgressive Records as a CD, cassette, black vinyl LP and lenticular gatefold sleeve with blue vinyl LP. A special deluxe triple gatefold edition with red vinyl LP is exclusive to https://store.allsparks.com/
SPARKS 2025 live dates include:
Kyoto ROHM Theatre (8th June), Osaka Zepp Namba (10th June), Tokyo EX Theater (12th + 13th June), London Eventim Apollo (18th + 19th June), Manchester O2 Apollo (21th + 22th June), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (24th June), Haarlem PHIL (26th June), Brussels Cirque Royal (28th June), Paris La Salle Pleyel (30th June), Cologne Gloria-Theater (1st July), Copenhagen Koncerthuset (3rd July), Stockholm Grona Lund Tivoli (4th July), Berlin Uber Eats (6th July), Milan Teatro degli Arcimboldi (8th July), Bilbao BBK Live (12th July), Dublin National Stadium (15th + 16th July), Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre (18th July), Wolverhampton Halls (19th July)
One sadly poignant note about the new Cherry Red double set ‘Fall – Float – Love (Works 1989-1993)’ is that its three main protagonists Julee Cruise, Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch are no longer with us.
Compiling her first two albums ‘Floating Into The Night’ and ‘The Voice Of Love’ with bonus edits, remixes, a demo and a cover version, the young Julee Cruise had moved to New York to make her fortune in acting and singing. A theatre workshop produced by Badalamenti brought her to the attention of the Brooklyn-born composer who had just begun working with David Lynch; the director himself had just come off the success of his 1984 film adaptation Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’.
Working on his new noir drama ‘Blue Velvet’, Lynch had wanted to use THIS MORTAL COIL’s cover of ‘Song To The Siren’ for a key scene but the asking price was beyond the allocated soundtrack budget. He suggested that Badalamenti write a song in a similar otherworldly style featuring a suitably haunting female vocalist. Badalamenti recommended Cruise, the track became ‘Mysteries of Love’ and the rest is history.
Having been schooled in a more theatrical style, Cruise had taken time to adapt her vocals to suit Badalamenti’s mood pieces and Lynch’s stream of consciousness lyrics while also accepting the heavy use of digital reverb on her voice. The three way creative relationship continued to produce music for Lynch’s cult TV series ‘Twin Peaks’ and Julee Cruise’s debut album ‘Floating Into The Night’ released in Autumn 1989; with its shimmering glacial perfection, it has since been acknowledged as a key album in the development of dream pop.
Although using conventional instrumentation like guitars, sax and brushed percussion highlighting Badalamenti’s jazz background, ‘Floating Into The Night’ was characterised by his Fender Rhodes electric piano with synthesised and sampled textures coming from a range of equipment including the Roland D550, Roland MKS70, Yamaha DX7, Akai S1000, Emulator II and Linn 9000, often played by Kinny Landrum.
The iconic ‘Falling’ as the vocal version of the ‘Twin Peaks’ theme needs no introduction in its crystalline moods and twangy Duane Eddy influences samples, but ‘Floating Into The Night’ began with ‘Floating’ which as title suggested, was a gorgeous slice of wispy avant swing that set the scene for an outstanding album. A more minimal cousin to ‘Falling’, ‘I Remember’ maintained the standard with an unexpected shuffle dropped in to throw off the scent; the airy mood recalled 1961’s Phil Spector produced ‘I Love How You Love Me’ by THE PARIS SISTERS which itself would later appear in ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’.
Although melancholic, ‘Floating Into The Night’ was no doom fest but with its gently swinging backbeat, ‘Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart’ provided a spritely uplift to proceedings. Following it, ‘Mysteries Of Love’ stands up nearly 40 years on as a bonafide classic that has since been covered by Claudia Brücken, Kid Moxie and ionnalee. Shaped by Fender Rhodes and slowly sweeping synths, ‘Into The Night’ was another fine lesson in minimal atmospheres from the ‘Twin Peaks’ universe while ‘I Float Alone’ provided a variation on the ’Floating’ theme at a more funereal pace.
Another song from ‘Twin Peaks’, the rich arrangement for ‘The Nightingale’ was laden with all the Badalamenti signatures of gentle melodies and delightful oddness. But ‘The Swan’ was bare and exposed with off key twists in the most minimal accompaniments while ‘The World Spins’ presented a beautifully orchestrated closer to the Lynchian drama with the sounds from ‘Falling’ all reprised in the dreamy waltz along.
After the cancellation of ‘Twin Peaks’, Lynch made a prequel spin-off movie ‘Fire Walk With Me’ in 1992 and with it came soundtrack contributions, some of which became songs for Julee Cruise’s second album ‘The Voice Of Love’ released in 1993. Although conceived as a companion to ‘Floating Into The Night’, this sophomore offering was less immediate and much hazier with an emphasis on mood. Instrumentally it was more organic than its predecessor, with bass guitar from Reggie Hamilton acoustic string bass from Buster Williams adding components that had not been present on ‘Floating Into The Night’.
Opening the album, ‘This Is Our Night’ sprang a surprise with an unexpected reggae inflection. ‘Movin’ In On You’ hypnotised in its repeated vocal phrasing but inspired by the Wim Wenders film that the trio contributed a cover of ‘Summer Kisses, Winter Tears’ to, ‘Until The End Of The World’ offered an exercise in elegance despite the metallic rhythm.
However, the eerie avant jazz of ‘Up In Flames’ proved challenging while the swinging piano-led moods of ‘Kool Kat Walk’ outstayed its welcome. And although ‘In My Other World’ played with a looser feel and hints of dysfunctional Americana, it lacked structure. The album was put back on track with ‘She Would Die For Love’, the vocal version of the ‘Fire Walk With Me’ theme and ‘Questions In A World Of Blue’, a song that would be the zenith of the Cruise / Badalamenti / Lynch axis when performed by her as herself in the film.
The soothing piano title song provided the formal ending to ‘The Voice Of Love’ but part of this set’s appendix, the gorgeous Elvis cover ‘Summer Kisses, Winter Tears’ recorded for the ‘Until The End Of The World’ soundtrack perhaps highlighted that while ‘The Voice Of Love’ was swathed in the aural wash of its predecessor, it lacked the accessibility that the songs on ‘Floating Into The Night’ had. But maybe ‘Floating Into The Night’ was just too tough an act to follow?
Whatever, ‘Fall – Float – Love’ gathers some fine music and in ‘Floating Into The Night’, a masterpiece in its not easily defined and yet instantly recognisable aesthetic. While originating from an arthouse cinematic headspace, the key is this music stands up without having to view any of the David Lynch filmography, conjuring images in an individual’s own mind from simply listening.
Wherever they are now, Julee Cruise, Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch are together making positive vibrations again.
In memory of Julee Cruise, Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch
With a backstory in Scottish indie and Swedish synth, UNIFY SEPARATE have always been a bit different and continue their development following two acclaimed albums ‘First Contact’ and ‘Music Since Tomorrow’.
To cut a long story short, Andrew Montgomery was the front man of GENEVA who were Nude Records label mates to SUEDE while Leo Josefsson is something of a Stockholm synth veteran as a member of LOWE and STATEMACHINE. A 2023 tour opening for German darkwave act DIARY OF DREAMS exposed UNIFY SEPARATE to a new audience and opened up more aesthetic possibilities.
A lot has happened in the world these past few years and the premise of the new ‘Heavy Meta’ EP is to build on the duo’s majestic sense of drama with a deeper and harder sound. This has been achieved with the rousing opener ‘Dark Heaven’ where the bass drum has got some almighty thump. Also thrown in are the ringing metallics of ‘Music For The Masses’ era DEPECHE MODE, the percolating synthbass of ULTRAVOX ‘The Thin Wall’ and even THE SMASHING PUMPKINS when they went briefly electropop on ‘Cyr’.
In a deep swoop of musical styles, the superb ‘DETOX’ initially enters stuttering techno territory, but things are turned on their head with Montgomery’s raw choirboy delivery lifting the tune over a switch to straight fours while the surprise of Josefsson’s distorted vocal cameo leads to a classic Scandi middle eight.
Stark expletive-laden commentary on the phenomenon of psychological manipulation, ‘Gaslighted’ captures its toll on a frustrated Montgomery over a backdrop of throbbing bass, sparkling arpeggios and textural six string with the final declaration that “your problem IS YOU!”
The influence of German IDM trio MODERAT takes hold on the building anguished dance stomper ‘Excuses Excuses’ where “when you try to make everyone happy, someone will get hurt”. Making a fine EP closer, ‘Return To Exile’ drops down to something much starker to recall the emotive ballad ‘Glassy Eyes’ by KITE whose soaring vocal melodies have much in in common with UNIFY SEPARATE.
In an increasingly dystopian world where the two biggest nuclear nations are being led by unhinged egomaniacs, UNIFY SEPARATE have provided their “sanity clause” as they confront an existential crisis that is more than about midlife in the ‘Heavy Meta’ EP, the crowd at this year’s prestigious Amphi Festival in Cologne are going to love it when they perform there in this summer.
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