-ISH by Neonpocalypse

Neonpocalypse, the first ever solo project by Then Comes Silence
frontman Alex Svenson, releases its first EP “-ish” this week on
digital platforms with an accompanying limited-edition CD release on
the Swiss Dark Nights label. Having just overseen this autumn’s
gargantuan Then Comes Silence side project Horsemen (seventeen
eclectic cover versions split over four EPs) and announced that the
band’s sixth album Hunger will be out in 2022, Svenson explains that
the six-track Neonpocalypse EP fulfils a personal as much as a musical need:
“I needed to fix my mind on something else. The band takes up a lot of
my time and this is just a side project to find a new input... and a
new output.”
Fans of turn of the eighties “futurist” music will certainly love the
retro analogue synth sound, especially on the lead track 'Broken
Circles', which brings to mind artists like John Foxx or avant-garde
pre-stadium Simple Minds, yet with an unmistakeably modern twist,
thanks as much to Svenson’s familiar velvety croon and strong sense of melody as to his mastery of digital technology.
The track’s contemporary dark dancefloor potential is heightened by an exquisite remix by Italian darkwave giants Ash Code, which is also included on “-ish”. The EP’s other tracks allow Svenson, who is Then Comes Silence’s bassist as well as the band’s vocalist, to experiment further with the rhythm section than on the more traditional song structures of his main project, with Game Over featuring a syncopated drum’n’bass backing, and Lips and The Light (which also features in radically remixed form thanks to fellow SDN artist Kurs) paying knowing homage to the oriental and early industrial tangents respectively of the early eighties synth scene.
Whilst Neonpocalypse’s music is wilfully more experimental and electronic-based than Then Comes Silence’s more traditional guitar-based post-punk sound, Svenson’s strong song-writing skills and deep appreciation of genre ensure that “-ish” is a worthy addition to his already impressive musical CV.

SwissDarkNights (28/01/12) is an independent label. Supports and produces music in order to collect every possible fragment from a slice of contemporary goth scene.
SDN edits and produces Glassmastered debuts to promote young bands.

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