Reviews

A New Proposal from Page

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

The Swedish poptronica leaders, Page, are back with a new EP. Ett förslag [EN: A Proposal] features five tracks – including a remake, a remix, and a cover version – to ensure that the act does not settle into the groove charted by its last album.

The title track is deliciously crafted pop with a curtain of strings rippling behind ersatz guitars. It’s a trick Bengtsson has pulled before (including with the album, Hur så? [EN: How So?]); mixing indie and electro influences without the burden of six-string lugs. We look forward to picking up ironic pick merchandise at the next show. In the meantime, this is a magnificent demonstration of Eddie Bengtsson’s capacity to produce emotive and melodic material like no one else.

Page (Photo: Simon Helm)

A new version of the Page classic, “Mia och Tom,” goes the opposite way and channels early Vince Clarke with bouncy, monophonic synths and handclaps. An enduring favourite in their live performances, the song retains its characteristic charm while benefitting from some recalibration to make it a little less Speak & Spell.

“Glitzerstrahl” hints at Kraftwerk with its reference to the “glittering rays” of the Sun in “Autobahn” and insistent beat. The synths are certainly bright and full of momentum. Someone should collect Bengtsson’s instrumentals into an album for Deutsche Grammophon – they deserve to be enjoyed as a set.

“Om ett tag” [EN: “In a While”], from the last Page album, Inget motstånd, gets a remix from Anymachine, a Scandi act connected to Bengtsson. Retooled from its 8-bit origins, the song breathes comfortably while being faithful to Bengtsson’s playful intentions.

Compute, the project of Bengtsson’s collaborator in The Volt, Ulrika Mild, contributes a cover of another Page song from the same album. In her hands, “Ingenting som betyder någonting” takes on a different palette.

With Ett förslag, Page introduce us to some of their friends and reunite us with an old one. It’s a summer party that can run all year.

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In The City of Tired Hatred with Diskodiktator

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Det trötta hatets stad is Johan Billing’s latest full-length statement as Diskodiktator. The Malmö-based electronic pop group began in 1996 as FKK Jugend and has undergone a series of changes with Billing the spine of the project. He now leads a core lineup with Magnus Johansson (Hiltipop, Anton Weber, Topgun) by his side. The new album is a continuation of Malmö C from 2014, with thirteen tracks that appear as personal recollections and opinions, coloured by Billing’s Skånian wit.

Diskodiktator is a project that blends retro-futuristic sounds with modern production, capturing the essence of electronic pop without burying itself in nostalgia. There is enough vintage synth treatment to give the sound a familiar warmth, but it stops well short of outright pastiche.

The title already signals the band’s method. Det trötta hatets stad is not a slogan. It is more an observation of a place where people are exhausted by the noise but still keep turning up. That ambivalence shapes the album. The record is not trying to be polemical; it’s trying to be human-in-a-place – and it finds a balance between polish and roughness that feels honest.

In the promotional film for the album, Billing himself stands in front of a rack of synth modules and talks about the “syntsaglar” behind the CD, which fits the overall frame: machines, hands, and a bit of Skånska stubbornness. That DIY, gear-literate attitude is part of what makes the project feel grounded.

The thirteen-track structure is busy, but it holds together. The album doesn’t stretch tracks out artificially, and it doesn’t pad the middle with filler. Instead, it keeps the momentum by varying the intensity and the palette: some songs lean harder into jaunty synthpop; others into darker synth experimentation; and others into a more reflective, almost ballad-like mood.

The opener, “Bättre tider” [EN: “Better Times”] is a bouncy number that looks back but doesn’t lapse into sentimentality. It serves as a reminder that Diskodiktator has roots in the Swedish synth scene that expanded in the 1990s. The greater part of the album is represented by tracks like “Roten till det onda” [EN: ” The Root of Evil”] and “Den lomhörda rebellen” [EN: “The Battle-Hardened Rebel”], in which texts are declaimed over synthesized backgrounds.

You can pick up southern Swedish from these tracks, but the Skånska element is less about language than attitude. There is a certain earthy, grounded quality in the phrasing and the vocal delivery that feels locally anchored – and not just stylistically. The material makes retro references feel connected to a specific place and time. Just because you weren’t there doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the experience.

The album is available on CD or in digital formats via Electric Fantastic Sound.

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Exploring Kiri Ra!’s nen: A Journey through Improvised Soundscapes

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Kiri Ra!’s second full-length album, nen, distils a decade of shared listening into eight pieces of improvised experimental music. The trio of Lau Nau, Linda Fredriksson and Matti Bye again work without a script, letting coffee, room tone and instinct decide where things go. If their self-titled debut played like a speculative film score assembled from archival rushes, nen feels more like one continuous tracking shot: the same world, but lit from the inside rather than observed from a distance.

Opener “niin-så” sets the pace with flute sounds hovering and trilling around a fragile rhythm; gradually dissolving into space. There’s no clear theme to hang onto, but the trio circle a small harmonic space with such care that it becomes its own kind of hook; inviting you to lean in rather than turn the volume up.

“ream” stretches that mood into something even more vaporous. It is all slow arcs of saxophone and electronic grain that suggest spiritual jazz gently refracted through an ambient lens. The title track, “nen”, is the record’s most immediately memorable moment: a slow, chiming figure on piano nudged forward over a soft synth halo, while Fredriksson’s lines arrive almost reluctantly; lending the piece a hymn-like gravity.

Long-form centrepiece, “omewhere,” is where the album’s method becomes clearest. The material unfolds at a walking pace; coming and going like lanterns appearing and disappearing in the mist. The accumulation of tiny gestures builds its own narrative tension. You end up listening for the decay of a single note as intently as others might wait for a chorus.

“oem” gives the impression of a seance captured on tape. The more shadowed “adad” hints at a submerged pulse, with darker harmonies and a low electronic throb that feels like a distant, slow-motion beat, answered by pointillist phrases from reeds and keys.

“eroplane” brings a faint sense of travelogue motion back into focus. It nods to dusty library cues and half-remembered documentary themes without ever lapsing into retro pastiche. The closer, “ahiahi,” gathers the record’s motifs and lets them evaporate, like the trio stepping quietly away from their instruments and leaving the air humming in their absence.

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Life’s a Cabaret: But What Time Is it Really?

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Cabaret Voltaire’s new live album, But What Time Is It Really?, arrives with a lot of history on its shoulders and very little sentimentality in its delivery. Recorded on the 2025 UK tour marking fifty years since the band’s first appearance at Sheffield Students Union, it captures the surviving original members, Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson – joined by Eric Random and Oliver Harrap – running through a tight, contemporary set that leans hard on their early‑80s pivot into industrial funk without pretending the clock stopped there.

The tracklist reads like a focused re-edit of the Cabaret Voltaire catalogue. “24-24,” “Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself),” “Crackdown,” “Spies in the Wires,” “Just Fascination,” and “Yashar” form the backbone, with “Nag Nag Nag” and “Sensoria” arriving as late-set pressure points rather than museum pieces. New live piece ,“Tinsley Viaduct,” functions as a hinge between eras, echoing the concrete atmospherics of the early days with the high-fidelity weight that modern production allows. The sequencing favours momentum: tension; release; tension again. It’s enough to fray your nerves with anticipation.

It is hard to calculate the influence that the Cabs have had over the decades. From their earliest days, working with the Industrial Records and Factory Records set; through the Rough Trade lean years, when royalties never appeared; surviving Stevo to stock their own studio; collaborating with Wax Trax artists; and mining their techno fantasies – the sounds they have made have echoed across genres and continents.

Production-wise, the record is clean without being sterilised. Engineered and mixed by Benge at Memetune, recorded by Joe Peat, and mastered by James Trevasus, it presents a detailed, front-of-house perspective that lets Watson’s modular work, Random’s guitar, and Mallinder’s voice sit in balance. The low end has authority, but there is space for the mid‑range grit and tape‑era ghosts to show through. Dan Conway’s visuals, reworked into the sleeve with Paul Burgess, underline that this is a late‑period document, not a retro design exercise.

The value of But What Time Is It Really? lies in how it resolves the question of what a band like Cabaret Voltaire should be doing live in 2025-26. Following Richard H. Kirk’s death, Mallinder and Watson have been explicit that there will be no new studio material under the trademark. Instead, they have chosen to treat the catalogue as something to be re‑cut for the present tense. These recordings bear that out with taut and physical performances. The overall impression is of a group using its farewell tour to tighten focus rather than dwell in mythology.

What comes through the grooves is that this is not the Cabaret Voltaire of previous tours. It is the summation of all of the Cabaret Voltaires that have come before. Their ghosts emerge at just the right moments; electrifying the listener’s nervous systems. Memories are individual, but this spectral experience is collective.

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Dive into the Water with Sweden’s ou ou

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

The lower-case collaboration between Anna Öberg, Charles Storm, Tilde Mossberg, and Linnéa Mossberg rocks summer evenings with the EP, Lake.

ou ou is a brand new Gothenburg-based project. The three-song EP is its first release.

The lead track, “Silence by the Lake,” is a superb, reverb-drenched clash of rhythm and sequences. The vocals of Tilde Mossberg are elegant and filled with character. Öberg’s feeling for dancefloor-oriented material comes through clearly, while Storm’s production work creates dramatic atmosphere. There are touches of ABBA and Fever Ray; but, after all, this is Scandipop.

“This River” slows down a notch while maintaining the interplay between dreamy mists and harder beats. The final track, “Into the River,” shifts into another gear with the introduction of Asian tones in the instrumentation. The mix of guitar, flutes, synths, and Mossberg’s vocals is magical.

A full album is expected in the autumn.

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Exploring In Memoriam: A Sonic Journey with 20Hz

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

There’s a quiet confidence to In Memoriam, the fourth album from Swedish producer, Erik Ångman, recording as 20Hz. Where earlier works leaned into ambience, the new material is more open to the possibilities of rhythm.

Ångman (who is also known for work with Göteborgselektronikerna and Octolab) has long treated 20Hz as a space for sonic exploration, rather than pop statements. The album unfolds patiently; built from low-frequency drones, distant harmonic flickers, and slow, almost tidal, shifts in texture. It’s immersive without ever tipping into wallpaper.

In Memoriam features a number of collaborators. Karin My – Sweden’s secret weapon – is the standout. Her voice on “The City” provides a cool focal point that cuts through Ångman’s electronics without breaking their spell. Ida Lovisa (“Through the Cracks”), Jonas Peterson (“Darkness Descends”), and Louise and Peter Marchione (“Every Shadow Has a Tale to Tell”) add further nuance; introducing subtle tonal contrasts that keep the record moving, even at its most minimal.

There’s a clarity of intent throughout. Even at its most sparse, the album doesn’t feel empty. Ångman has a precise grasp of spatial dynamics: allowing sounds to breathe while still maintaining tension. The midsection, in particular, finds a compelling balance between atmosphere and forward motion, where the record’s emotional weight comes into sharper focus.

If the palette remains narrow, it’s by design. Rather than chasing variety, Ångman refines a specific mood. The material is darker than usual, but it’s inspired by sad events. In Memoriam is a measured, carefully constructed, set of songs that rewards close listening.

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Hannah Peel Comes in from the Cold

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Hannah Peel has had a varied career. Her hands are in the background of our Facebook header; turning the handle of the music box on which she cranked out covers of 80s synthpop. She has performed with John Foxx as part of The Maths. Whole other audiences know her for Ulster-inspired pop, as a Radio 3 presenter, or as part of The Magnetic North.

Peel’s sweet spot is, increasingly, as a composer for television and film. Her commission for the Netflix film, Midwinter Break successfully sits between the glacial restraint of soundtracks for Nordic noir and the evocative Snow Falling on Cedars. Like both, it leans on atmosphere over incident; teasing memories from the darkness.

Like James Newton Howard’s soundtrack for Snow Falling on Cedars, Peel’s score explores closeness and distance. The cues often feel like they’re tracing something just out of reach. The shapes are hauntingly familiar but far from comfortable.

Midwinter Break is a fine addition to Peel’s show reel, but it also works as music for reflection. Sit still and let this be your mirror.

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Rohn-Lederman Bring the Heat on Volcano

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

The leftfield pop project, Rohn‑Lederman, brings together two artists from different corners of the dark electronic world.

Emileigh Rohn is a Detroit-based vocalist, songwriter and producer best known for her long‑running project, Chiasm, for which she crafts intimate, industrial‑leaning electronic songs. Rohn’s work tends to fold personal –  often anxious – lyricism into sparse, moody arrangements, giving her voice a confessional, slightly haunted presence.

Jean‑Marc Lederman, by contrast, is a Belgian composer and producer with decades of work in European alternative and electronic music. His experience ranges from acts like Fad Gadget, The Weathermen and Kid Montana to ambient and soundtrack‑style projects. Where Rohn’s background mostly is solo writing and production, Lederman’s is rooted in shifting collaborations, sound design, and sweeping vistas summoned through synths and programming.

The duo’s new album, Volcano, trades the duo’s usual synthetic shimmer for something rougher around the edges. Across its 12 tracks, you can hear them leaning into a more cathartic register, framing Rohn’s vocal intensity with guitars that snarl rather than simply decorate. Earlier releases like Venus Chariot and Forbidden Planet often felt like intricate electronic architecture – loaded with industrial pulses, cinematic synths, and controlled atmospherics. Volcano, by contrast, feels more like a pressure valve being released.

The lead single, “Paper Plane,” sets the tone. Rohn’s voice is almost a whisper as she shares the news that she is a toy boat. The instrumentation is stripped back and creates space for her story to unfold.

The guitar‑influenced arrangements blur the line between electro project and alt‑guitar band in a way similar to Frank Tovey’s mid-career shift towards stringed instruments. Our favourite track is – perhaps ironically but also predictably – the most synth-oriented. “To Greener Grass” is simple in its structure but endearing in its tone.

If earlier Rohn‑Lederman recordings invited you to ease into their world, Volcano is more direct. It’s not their sleekest album, but that’s rather the point – in many ways, it’s their most human.

Volcano is released on 6 March 2026.

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Sweden’s Pelotone Returns with Remixes

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Pelotone, the project of Josefine Lärkstierna, returns with a collection of remixes from her 2025 debut EP, Nära [EN: Close].

Nära Remixed opens with a retooled version of “Rädsla” [EN: “Fear”], crafted by SYSTEMatisk. The original has acquired a bass line that resembles Depeche Mode’s “The Sun & The Rainfall.” It has also yielded some of the intensity that provoked feelings of anxiety  in the track’s synthetic pulse. The result is a more pop-oriented approach.

“Närmre” [EN: “Closer”] gets a fresh gloss from lost bit, who finds a deep lounge angle that will be perfect for the chill-out room in your quinzhee.

“Svarta Ögon” [EN: “Black Eyes”] is worked over by Majestoluxe (aka Conny Fornbäck) with what seems to be the ghost of Executive Slacks.

Celldöd (aka Anders Karlsson) takes the reins for “Havet” [EN: “The Sea”]; amping up the tension and exposing the vocals like the brickwork of a warehouse.

Nano Ona (aka Erika Axmark) plays with “Sommaräng.” Pelotone recently returned the favour on the Nano Ona track, “Diamond Dust.” The entire EP has the vibe of an exchange conceived at the Stockholm club, Synth After Work, and it represents the cross-pollination that comes from having so many talented artists in close proximity to each other.

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Trance Macabre: Dark Reflections from Annie Hogan

by coldwarnightlife
written by coldwarnightlife

Annie Hogan locked herself away in her Northern studio for four months in 2025 to create Tongues in My Head. The results are mysterious, powerful, and resonant.

Hogan is well-known as a composer and arranger. She established herself as a musocal partner to Marc Almond and DJ at the legendary Batcave club, but it is through her solo work and collaborations that we have got to know her best.

The list of high-profile artists Hogan has worked with is like a scene Who’s Who: Nick Cave, Yello, Simon Fisher Turner, Gini Ball, Dave Ball, Barry Adamson, Martin Bowes, Scanner, Derek Forbes (ex-Simple Minds), Wolfgang Flür (ex-Kraftwerk), Nico, Gavin Friday…it’s a seemingly endless list. The multi-instrumentalist Hogan is the musician’s musician.

Tongues is a personal work that does not feature a roster of guest artists. Hogan gathers her emotions and sings from her soul, while handling all of the instrumentation solo. The lead single, “Death Rituals,” is an atmospheric and evocative incantation. It sets the tone with distorted vocals and the sort of Eastern exoticism that Dead Can Dance turned into their entire career.

The album opener, “Alles Ist Verloren” [EN: “All Is Lost”], combines hints of smooth jazz with gritty vocals. There is a strong experimental thread that runs through the set, and it sounds like Hogan has chosen a treated condensor microphone for her lines. Whatever the technique, the effect is to add complex textures to the material, which expands the emotional impact.

If the witches of Polanski’s Macbeth had a modern song to sing, it would be “Deadly Night Shades.” Music to stir cauldrons by, it is both sweet and menacing. The track serves to evidence Hogan’s description of the album as one “inspired by mystery of ritual, sacrifice and ceremony.”

The album closes with “The Conjuror,” in which multiple Hogans overlap with each other over drones and reverb-drenched rhythms. The spirits are summoned to a divine dance and manifested through the speakers. It’s beauty, but not as we’ve known it.

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