The ‘Andreas’ EP is a special release by COVENANT dedicated to the memory of the Swedish band’s former member Andreas Catjar-Danielsson who sadly passed away from cancer on 29th July 2024 aged 51.
Featuring artwork poignantly depicting a missing band member, all proceeds of ‘Andreas’ from all platforms will go to charity in benefit of his wife and children with Dependent Records waiving all profits from the vinyl edition in contribution.
As well as working with COVENANT, Andreas Catjar-Danielsson was closely associated with ABU NEIN and had remixed THE CARDIGANS ‘Hanging Around’ in 1999. He began his association with COVENANT in 2013, co-writing the appropriately -titled ‘Slowdance’ on the ‘Last Dance’ EP and the vibrant futurepop of ‘I Walk Slow’ on the album ‘Leaving Babylon’; both feature on ‘Andreas’ along with the lengthy spoken word ‘Das Nibelungenlied’ from 2019’s ‘Fieldworks Exkursion’ EP.
In 2016, he recorded, mixed and performed on a stark drone-laden cover of ‘A Rider On A White Horse’ for the COVENANT album ‘The Blinding Dark’. It is fittingly the lead track on ‘Andreas’ with the foreboding duality of founding vocalist Eskil Simonsson and ABU NEIN leader Erica Li Lundqvist transforming the Lee Hazelwood’s original acoustic flavoured country ballad into a gothic funereal set piece.
Featuring additional vocals from Andriana Seecker who had worked Andreas Catjar-Danielsson on his various theatre and dance commissions, the ‘Andreas’ EP closes with an even gloomier cover of YAZOO’s ‘Winter Kills’ which he helmed; written by Alison Moyet, it was one of the highlights of ‘Upstairs At Eric’s’ and saw her accompanying herself on piano while Vince Clarke provided subtle synthetic rumbles as the rhythmic backdrop.
“’Winter Kills’ is my all-time favourite YAZOO song. It’s just magic” Andreas Catjar-Danielsson had said via COVENANT’s social media at the time of its original digital release in 2020, “How do you make something so minimalistic so bombastic? Like Eric Satie. And even though the piano (and of course Alison’s voice) is the dominant instrument, it still sounds very synthetic. As if the cold winds of winter, the loss and the longing is hidden in the space between the notes. Or compressed in the wonder of the single drum hit.”
‘Andreas’ is released by Dependent Records on 17th October 2025, pre-order via http://lnk.spkr.media/covenant-andreas
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Text by Chi Ming Lai
2nd August 2025
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