As ZOLA JESUS said recently, looking inwards is something she does a lot of, and in these unprecedented times, isolation and concentration on self, will be something that even the biggest extroverts will have to work on.
Not too dissimilar from Ms Jesus, Sufi inspired Iranian born, Berlin based artist MENTRIX, debuts with her long player ‘My Enemy, My Love’ in which she looks towards the core of her existence, intertwining her varied experiences with wonderfully unique musicality derived from Persian poetry and modern electronica.
Samar Rad moved to France when she was eight by the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Aged fourteen she moved back, and had to re-discover her Farsi mother tongue, going from learning Latin and French literature to Arabic and the Qu’ran. Later, Mentrix spent some time in Britain and now the Iranian desert rose lives in Berlin.
Drawing from her experience of an immigrant deserter, not really belonging and missing her home land, Rad says: “This album reflects my relationship with the contrasting worlds I lived in, with myself, and all my existential wanderings.”
‘My Enemy, My Love’ is being released on MENTRIX’s own label, House Of Strength. The name comes from the gathering place “Zoorkhaneh”, where warriors would train in secret during the Arab invasion of Persia in the Seventh Century. The men would gather there to fuel patriotic feelings. “Women for instance do not train in these places,” explains Rad, “this idea of solidarity must be revived, everywhere, yet the patriarchal aspect must still be fought.”
The long player unfolds in eight tracks, each one unique and derived from a different source within the artist’s psyche. The captivating ‘Nature’, with its enchanting video, filmed in the stunningly beautiful landscapes of Kavir-e-Lut, in eastern Iran, known to be one of the hottest places on earth, is as hypnotic as it is tantric. Played on Daf and Tombak, both traditional Iranian drums, with the inclusion of Sufi inspired lyrics, the track is electrifying.
‘Walk’ is packed with tribal qualities, almost devoid of any sound, except for the floating vocal and metallic shuffling until further instrumentation is introduced to create a very ZOLA JESUS-like landscape. ‘Dreams’ continues the trance twists with a numismatic concoction of swirling sounds à la THE KNIFE, while ‘Igneous Sun’ releases more reflective textures over sparkling synths.
The title track races towards its culmination with distinctive Iranian instruments such as the tombak, kamancheh, ney and daf, each sounding alien to the western ear but bring the artist a great deal of national pride.
The inclusion of marching drum on ‘Loyalty’ sustains the feeling of urgency, where Rad calls out for “patience”. Inspired by traditional Mooyeh mourning chant from Lorestan in Iran, ‘Longing’ brings raw quality to the recording, with sounds derived from desert sand and mountain winds.
“It is very important for me to associate my music with the landscape of Iran,” explains Rad, “I am forever attached to my birth place, and my identity and aspirations are very rooted in Iranian culture. Since the West so often portrays Iran in a questionable way, I feel obliged to share its diverse and positive faces to the world.”
‘If’, however, sounds perfectly western, perfectly synthy and perfectly soulful; it’s an urban ballad of uncertainty and thoughtfulness.
Deeply connected with her beloved homeland, MENTRIX re-defines women of Persia and women living all over the world.
This feminist theme stretches to the fact that featured on the record are primarily women, such as Claire Bay playing the ney, to multi-award winning legendary New York-based mastering engineer, Emily Lazar.
Previously, MENTRIX used to lend vocals on other people’s music. But on ‘My Enemy, My Love’, she ushers in the era of Rad, debuting with a unique sound, bridging eastern and western cultures. This isn’t your standard feminist stance, however, in the way the likes of REIN would approach the subject.
Her femininity and musical landscapes, paint the picture of maturity and grace, highlighting the strength and resilience to overcome all adversities. And now, more than ever, we need those attributes in order to survive this Armageddon.
So how did ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK arrive at its discerning musical ethos?
It probably all began with a very liberal and Bohemian junior school teacher named Miss Nielsen who played KRAFTWERK’s ‘Autobahn’, PINK FLOYD’s ‘Echoes’ and the soundtrack of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to the class, with the unusual sound of all three providing an otherworldly, yet captivating listen.
Later on, various parts of the 22 minute ‘Autobahn’ track appeared on the end credits of BBC children’s drama ‘Out Of Bounds’ and opened ‘Newsround Extra’, but 1977 was to become the true Year Zero in electronic pop. With ‘Oxygène’, ‘Sound & Vision’, ‘Magic Fly’ and ‘I Feel Love’ all hitting the UK Top 3 within months of each other, this was effectively the beginning of synths designing the future.
Here is a very personal list of 30 tracks that shaped ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK – these are primarily songs that solidified and expanded the interest in synth or later provided hope in the face of real music snobbery and the return of the guitar in the wake of Britpop.
There will be grumbles that the likes of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, HEAVEN 17, YAZOO, DURAN DURAN, TALK TALK, PROPAGANDA, CLIENT, RÖYKSOPP and others are not featured, and certainly if this list was a 40, they would all be included. But this list is an impulsive snapshot of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s own journey in music, as opposed to being a history of electronic pop or a best of.
What? No industrial, acid house, techno or dubstep you ask? Well, that’s because ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK disliked the majority of it. While this is not always the case, the site has generally been about synthpop ie pop music using synthesizers, as can be seen from this rather esteemed electronic roll of honour 😉
This is the history that the too cool for school media, who think everything jumped from KRAFTWERK to Detroit Techno in one fell swoop, don’t like to mention…
With a restriction of one track per artist moniker and presented in yearly and then alphabetical order featuring music from before the site came into being, here is why is it how it is…
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Oxygène IV (1976)
For many including Jean-Michel Jarre, ‘Popcorn’ was their first experience of a synth hit and he released his own version under the moniker of THE POPCORN ORCHESTRA in 1972. But while working on his first proper full length electronic album in 1976, Jarre adapted a melodic phrase from the late Gershon Kingsley’s composition. That composition was ‘Oxygène IV’ and the rest is history.
Available on the JEAN-MICHEL JARRE album ‘Oxygène’ via Sony Music
Exploring a “whole new school of pretension” with his new creative muse Brian Eno, ‘Sound & Vision’ saw David Bowie capture a tense European aesthetic. Utilising an uplifting rhythm guitar hook and an ARP Solina string machine, the most distinctive feature of the half instrumental track was the pitch shifted percussion, produced by Tony Visconti feeding the snare drum though an Eventide Harmonizer.
Available on the DAVID BOWIE album ‘Low’ via EMI Music
SPACE was the brainchild of Didier Marouani who went under the pseudonym of Ecama and formed the collective in 1977 with Roland Romanelli and Jannick Top. The space disco of the iconic ‘Magic Fly’ heralded the start of a new European electronic sound within the mainstream. With its catchy melody and lush accessible futurism, ‘Magic Fly’ sold millions all over the world.
Available on the SPACE album ‘Magic Fly’ via Virgin France
Working with Donna Summer on an album called ‘I Remember Yesterday’, producer Giorgio Moroder wanted to feature a track that represented “the sound of the future”. Employing the Moog Modular system with an 8-step analogue sequencer plus a triplet delay to create the pulsing synthesizer lines and metronomic beat, ‘I Feel Love’ changed the course of music.
Using a Micromoog for its iconic hook, ‘The Model’ was inspired by KRAFTWERK’s visits to night clubs in the more vibrant city of Cologne 30km down the road from Düsseldorf where their iconic Kling Klang studio was based. There, they would observe beautiful models drinking champagne and seek their company.
In a creative rut following their UK success in the glam-era, the Mael Brothers had found ‘I Feel Love’ awe inspiring. A journalist friend put SPARKS into contact with Giorgio Moroder. The first result was the tremendous ‘No1 Song In Heaven’ where Russell Mael’s flamboyant falsetto fitted well with the programmed electro-disco sound, which meant Ron Mael could maintain his image of doing nothing.
Available on the SPARKS album ‘No1 In Heaven’ via Repertoire Records
With Gary Numan using the group name of TUBEWAY ARMY at the behest of Beggars Banquet, the astoundingly long ‘Are Friends Electric?’ with its diabolus in musica structure became the entry point for many into electronic music. It was Synth Britannia’s ‘Starman’ moment when it was featured on ‘Top Of The Pops’ and ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ during the same week, eventually reaching No1 in the UK.
Available on the TUBEWAY ARMY album ‘Replicas’ via Beggars Banquet
Departing ULTRAVOX and now making music along with an ARP Odyssey, Elka Rhapsody and a Roland CR78 Compurhythm, John Foxx realised his own starker vision of electronic music. Enginnered by Gareth Jones, ‘Underpass’ channelled the dystopian writings of JG Ballard with Foxx adding that the English novelist was “addressing what I’d come to call ‘the unrecognised present’.”
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metamatic’ via Metamatic Records
A track that “weighed more than Saturn”, ‘The Black Hit Of Space’ sounded extraordinary when it opened the second album by THE HUMAN LEAGUE. The Sci-Fi lyrics about an infinite pop hit were strangely out there while harsh screeching frequencies from overdriving the mixing desk; “All that was a reaction to the cleanness of the previous album so we overcompensated.” said Martyn Ware…
Available on the THE HUMAN LEAGUE album ‘Travelogue’ via Virgin Records
The resonant heart of ‘Quiet Life’ was a Roland System 700 driven by Richard Barbieri’s snappy eight step Oberheim Mini-sequencer. Complimented by Mick Karn’s distinctively fluid fretless bass, Rob Dean’s clean guitar lines and David Sylvian’s lyrical conclusion that the band were outsiders in the environment they were born into. Inadvertently, JAPAN had now invented DURAN DURAN!
Available on the JAPAN album ‘Quiet Life’ via Sony Music
Following the colder electronic pioneers like Gary Numan and John Foxx, OMD were the first of the warmer synthesizer bands. ‘Messages’ utilised a pulsing ‘Repeat’ function on a Korg Micro-Preset shaped by hand twisting the octave knob. Re-recorded from the original album version under the helm of producer Mike Howlett, he harnessed a template of basic primary chord structures and one fingered melodies.
Of ‘Astradyne’, Billy Currie said: “Midge started with that strong melody, Chris’ bass was also a very strong feature. I played a piano counter melody behind. The track was so strong that we felt at ease to lengthen it with a long textural piano bit that is sort of bell-like with the metronomic bass drum beats and the violin tremolo solo… Midge came up with that final section lift taking it out of the long ARP solo. I double it! It is very celebratory at the end…”
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Vienna’ via Chrysalis/EMI Records
Conceived during soundchecks while they were playing on Gary Numan’s first concert tour, Chris Payne, Billy Currie and Ced Sharpley had recorded the track at Genetic Studios as a souvenir keepsake. Midge Ure later came up lyrics and a melody when the track was added to the debut VISAGE album. Capturing the cinematic pomp of the New Romantic movement, ‘Fade To Grey’ became a No1 in West Germany.
Available on the VISAGE album ‘Visage’ via Polydor Records
Written by Vince Clarke and produced by Daniel Miller, DEPECHE MODE fulfilled the Mute label founder’s vision of a teenage pop group with synthesizers that he had imagined and conceived for SILICON TEENS. Despite its danceable bubblegum appeal and catchy synthesizer hooks, ‘New Life’ also featured some intricate folk vocal harmonies which made it quite distinct from other synthpop at the time.
Available on the DEPECHE MODE album ‘Speak & Spell’ via Mute Records
The expansive instrumental ‘Theme for Great Cities’ was initially a freebie having initially been part of ‘Sister Feelings Call’, a seven track EP given as a gift to early purchasers of SIMPLE MINDS’ breakthrough fourth album ‘Sons & Fascination’. Starting with some haunting vox humana before the rhythm section covered in dub echo drove what was possibly one of the greatest synth signatures ever!
SOFT CELL’s cover of ‘Tainted Love’was Synth Britannia’s first true crossover record, reaching No1 in UK and Germany while also breaking the US Top 10 a year later. Written by Ed Cobb, ‘Tainted Love’ was recorded by Gloria Jones and a favourite on the Northern Soul scene. Dave Ball knew the song and took it into haunting electronic torch territory, while Marc Almond added an honestly spirited vocal.
With its iconic honky tonk piano line and sophisticated arrangement, ‘Party Fears Two’ was a magnificent song about dealing with the perils of schizophrenia, made all the more resonant by Billy Mackenzie’s operatic prowess. It also kick started a brief period when ASSOCIATES subverted the UK charts with an avant pop approach that fitted in with the Synth Britannia template of the times.
Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe were unlikely pop stars, but an appearance on the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ led to a deal with London Records. Using a Korg MS20 synched to a Linn Drum Computer as its rhythmic backbone, the haunting melancholy of ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ fused the sombre lyricism of JOY DIVISION with the melodies and textures of OMD via a Roland Jupiter 8.
Available on the BLACMANGE album ‘Happy Families’ via Edsel Records
Merseyside duo CHINA CRISIS are probably the most under rated band of their generation. The haunting ‘Christian’ was a song about the fate of soldiers in the trenches during World War One. Slow and melancholic, ‘Christian’ was as unlikely a hit single as ‘Ghosts’ by JAPAN was. But in an open-minded and diverse period in pop music than today, acts with a less obvious rock ‘n’ roll outlook were in with a chance.
‘Temptation’ was NEW ORDER’s electronic breakthrough away from the haunting legacy of JOY DIVISION. The recording itself was marvellously flawed, with Stephen Morris’ overdriven Simmons snare panned too far to the right while tutting could also be heard. The pulsing hypnotism of the triggered ARP Quadra and the “oooh-oo-ooh” vocal refrain made ‘Temptation’ rather joyous and magical.
Available on the NEW ORDER album ‘Singles’ via WEA Records
When BRONSKI BEAT made their first ever TV appearance they were nothing short of startling, thanks to their look, their minimal synth sound and Somerville’s lonely earth shattering falsetto. Aiming to be more outspoken and political in their position as openly gay performers, the tale of ‘Smalltown Boy’ about a gay teenager leaving his family and fleeing his hometown made an important statement.
It was with the re-recorded Stephen Hague version of ‘West End Girls’ that PET SHOP BOYS hit No1 in both the UK and US in 1986. Its distinctive bass synth was achieved by Hague coercing a reluctant Chris Lowe into hand playing the riff. Meanwhile, the track fulfilled Neil Tennant’s concept of the duo sounding “like an English rap group” with a dour demeanour that was the antithesis of WHAM!
Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘PopArt’ via EMI Music
In today’s world, DEPECHE MODE influenced acts are common place but in 1988, this was highly unusual. Taking ‘Some Great Reward’ as their template, CAMOUFLAGE developed on the industrial flavoured synthpop of ‘Master & Servant’ and ‘People Are People’ which the Basildon boys had all but abandoned from ‘Black Celebration’ onwards. Probably the best single DM never recorded.
Available on the CAMOUFLAGE album ‘The Singles’ via Polydor Records / Universal Music
Produced by Stephen Hague, ‘A Little Respect’ was perfection from the off with its lively combination of Vince Clarke’s pulsing programming and strummed acoustic guitar. As the busy rhythmical engine kicked in, Andy Bell went from a tenor to a piercing falsetto to provide the dynamic highs and lows that are always omnipresent in all great pop songs.
DUBSTAR straddled Britpop with a twist of Synth Britannia. ‘Not So Manic Now’ was a song by Wakefield indie band BRICK SUPPLY, but the trio made it their own with the Northern lass earthiness of Sarah Blackwood providing the chilling commentary of an attack on a helpless pensioner. Stephen Hague’s wonderful production fused programmed electronics with guitars and cello in fine fashion.
Available on the DUBSTAR album ‘Disgraceful’ via Food Records
The stratospheric GOLDFRAPP debut album ‘Felt Mountain’ had Ennio Morricone’s widescreen inflections but to accompany an ascent to the Matterhorn rather than a trek through a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. ‘Lovely Head’ was laced with deviant sexual tension. Will Gregory’s mad Korg MS20 treatments on Alison Goldfrapp’s operatic screaming produced some thrilling musical moments.
Available on the GOLDFRAPP album ‘Felt Mountain’ via Mute Records
Describing the relationship between artist and fan, this was a throbbing Moroder-inspired cacophony of electronic dance from Michel Amato with a dirty clanking Korg KR55 Rhythm used to great effect. Deliciously hypnotic, the swimmy ARP synths drowned any sorrows as the pulsing euphoria took a hold. Miss Kittin’s nonchalant Grenoble charm carried off what was a rather superb Electroclash anthem.
Available on the MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER album ‘The First Album’ via Nobodys Bizzness
LADYTRON became one of the first bands for many years to primarily use synthesizers as their tools of expression. Their debut ‘604’ explored yesterday’s tomorrow. With octave shifts galore to satirical lyrics about the X-Factor/Next Year’s Top Model generation, ‘Seventeen’ demonstrated the tactile nature of analogue synthesis that was key to a reversal in fortunes for electronic pop.
Available on the LADYTRON album ‘Light & Magic’ via Nettwerk
Those long winter nights in Sweden certainly had their effect on siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer. ‘Silent Shout’ was hypnotic understated rave with a quota of creepy Nordic eccentricity. The sharp appregiator and ambient percussion melted with Karin Dreijer’s heavily pitch-shifted low register vocals providing a menacing counterpoint to her younger brother’s vibrant electronic lattice.
Available on THE KNIFE album ‘Silent Shout’ via Brille Records
Is a cover or is it Memorex? This interpolation of ‘Space Age Love Song’ by A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS provided MARSHEAUX with their most immediate number yet. Borrowing the uniformed look of CLIENT but applying a pure synthpop template, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou became notable for their wispy sound.
Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Peek-A-Boo’ via Undo Records
If Karin Dreijer and Trent Reznor made a record together, then they might sound like Norwegian leftfield duo SOFT AS SNOW.
After two EPs ‘Glass Body’ and ‘Chrysalis’ released in 2014 and 2015 respectively, the Berlin based pairing of Oda Egjar Starheim and Øystein Monsen finally make the plunge on the long playing trail with their first album ‘Deep Wave’ out in April 2018.
As can be expected from an act that may or may not have named themselves after the song by MY BLOODY VALENTINE, creative use of noise is one of SOFT AS SNOW’s key philosophies. But this is not to say that they eschew melody or song structures.
Indeed, Monsen says of ‘Deep Wave’: “We’ve both always been drawn to the idea of pop music, and are interested in how far you can stretch the boundaries, before it becomes something else. For us, this is essentially a pop album”.
The excellent lead single ‘Snake’ is a fine calling card for ‘Deep Wave’, with stuttering drum machine and whirring synth bass coupled to Starheim’s unsettling distorted vocals, forming an amalgam of congruous intonation and decipherable words before the whole thing rumbles to aural implosion!
A film created by Conrad Pack to visualise ‘Snake’ puts the song into mindbending context with its surreal computer animation that at various points enters space and other strange dimensions. Given SOFT AS SNOW’s strident experimental sound, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that Starheim has a background in performance art, while Monsen drummed in noise rock bands.
‘Deep Wave’ is not an easy listen by any means, but sees Starheim and Monsen fully committed to their ethos and growing as artists, especially on the desolate atmospheres of ‘Sleep/Slip’ and ‘Mass’. But the new single ‘Pink Rushes’ is even more warped and uncompromising.
‘Deep Wave’ develops on the promise of their earlier work; ‘I Adore’ from the ‘Chrysalis’ EP was an intriguing slice of witch house quite obviously inspired by THE KNIFE’s ‘Silent Shout’, although given a more aggressive stance with its blend of live percussion over programmed beats and icy layers of synths. Meanwhile, the title track of the ‘Glass Body’ EP showcased a fragility and vulnerability amongst the brooding upbeat cacophony of trancey sounds.
This is not synthwave, this is ‘Deep Wave’. Unconventional, innocent, fierce, tuneful, haunting and danceable all at same time, SOFT AS SNOW have generated curiosity in their weird little world.
The First Lady of the Swedish electronic scene Karin Dreijer returns and the comeback is indeed a bit of a ‘Plunge’.
Being one half of THE KNIFE who shook the foundations of Swedish synth music and created new directions in all things electronic, Dreijer has for years embodied the most influential figure in darker, artier synthpopia. THE KNIFE, formed in Gothenburg with her brother Olof, released a few notable albums, including the uncompromising ‘Shaking The Habitual’ in 2013, to disband the following year after a number of successful live appearances.
Yet back in 2009, Dreijer couldn’t wait to unleash her solo project under the pseudonym of FEVER RAY, which gave a go ahead to artists such as IAMAMIWHOAMI, KARIN PARK, GAZELLE TWIN, AUSTRA, THE HORN THE HUNT, NIKI & THE DOVE and perhaps to Canada’s GRIMES as well. The school of hauntronica was opening doors to a wide variety of female artists who wanted to take the synth to another level.
The eponymous album number one was heralded by ‘If I Had A Heart’, which caused a stir big enough to be featured in many TV series, with ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Person Of Interest’ and ‘Vikings’ to name a few.
The Ice Maiden Of Synth also contributed vocals to the works by DEUS and RÖYKSOPP, composed the soundtrack to ‘Dirty Diaries’, ‘Hour Of the Wolf’, and gigged extensively, gathering more than positive reviews.
Known for her visual extravaganza of costumes, masks, body paints and theatrical props, Dreijer makes an unexpected return with ‘Plunge’.
Weird and eerie sounds on ‘Wanna Sip’ pull strings from the onset, inviting a celebration of what’s unusual and egocentric. The curious urgency created by the clever use of musical elements ends abruptly, to be followed by ‘Mustn’t Hurry’; the Nordic vocals are pushing boundaries over mysterious beats, leading to pitch-bent hysteria on ‘A Part Of Us’ featuring Tami T.
‘Falling’ is the preparatory tune, designed to work as shift change into the more political and designed to shock part of the album. The most experimental on the opus, it features samples of dial tones, bells and harsh vocals to unnerve and “feel dirty”. For a tribal feel of distorted vocal and sex noises, all wrapped up in Japanese notion over the playground antics, let’s go into ‘IDK About You’. Weird enough? Certainly…
But then comes ‘This Country’; here Dreijer gets political, sexual and more peculiar still. Referring to “perverts”, “free abortions, clean water” and the general statement that “this country makes it hard to f**k” pretty much says it all.
It’s all a risky ‘Plunge’ (except the title track is a chipper instrumental proposition); ‘To The Moon & Back’ being the classic example of it with the scandalous “I want to run my fingers up your pussy”. Have we heard it right!? Oh yes, FEVER RAY has the fever, and she’s not ashamed to admit it. And all this over ERASURE-esque arpeggios!? And why not!
The vibrations change to cinematic eastern violin, which buzzes with the urgency of noise in ‘Red Trails’, shifting to ‘An Itch’ with its axe grinding qualities, to be reconciled with ‘Mama’s Hand’. With that stretched voice, trying to explain the subject matter as love, but what love? Maternal, sexual, of a brotherhood of men; has Dreijer found her destiny? Has she reached her fulfilment? Has she cleared the uncertainty or merely muddied the waters further?
FEVER RAY has certainly transformed, noticeably evolved, properly grown, unafraid to spell things as they are. The ambivalent political-sexual manifesto is there for grabs.
It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but for the lovers of the quirky, strong, semi-feminist and above all, bursting with art forms, ‘Plunge’ will hail the new era. It’s an era of unbridled sexuality, paradoxical freedom and all things weird and beautiful.
And who will FEVER RAY inspire next?
‘Plunge’ is released by Rabid Records via the usual digital platforms
Swedish duo KITE have unleashed their darkest offering yet in ‘Demons & Shame’.
If Ennio Morricone composed music for Nordic Noir dramas, it would sound a bit like this. Shaped by a ritualistic drum mantra and brooding bass drones, as the title suggests, the song confronts the despair that life occasionally throws up while pursuing visions and dreams.
Vocalist Nicklas Stenemo literally screams his frustration over an epic synthetic soundscape from Christian Berg, laced with nocturnal Arctic overtones and the spectre of THE KNIFE.
Following the triumph of their sixth EP ‘VI’, KITE are now making in-roads internationally with their second tour of the US and early summer dates in Germany. Stenemo said in late 2015: “Now we feel we have a great position in Sweden and are going to focus on Europe. It’s like starting from the beginning, but we are really excited to start touring and bring our ridiculously oversized live set-up to the small clubs all over. I guess Germany will see a lot of us”.
With the leaps of progression on ‘IV’ as evidenced by mighty songs like ‘Up For Life’ and ‘It’s Ours’, the new EP ‘VII’ looks likely to be a blinder. With Stenemo and Berg also working on a song for the upcoming Steven Seagal movie ‘Perfect Weapon’, “Sweden’s best kept pop-secret” is not so secret anymore…
As ZOLA JESUS said recently, looking inwards is something she does a lot of, and in these unprecedented times, isolation and concentration on self, will be something that even the biggest extroverts will have to work on.
Deeply connected with her beloved homeland, MENTRIX re-defines women of Persia and women living all over the world.
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