B RETON
D NK L
Perfectly formed electro powerpop
Classy Scandinavian noir-pop
After releasing their debut album, ‘Other People’s Problems’, on
Fat Cat in 2012, last year’s ‘War Room Stories’ on their own Cut
Tooth imprint firmed up the thinking that Breton deserve a bit
more love. And 2015 might just deliver that love in buckets for
the London five-piece. Frontman Roman Rappak and drummer
Adam Ainger have been tinkering for a good while, clocking up
mixes for the likes of Lana Del Rey and Alt J, but Breton aren’t
some remixers’ sidey. That they use those skills to serve up
delicious pop infused with electronic jiggery is mighty pleasing
and what they say about it all makes it doubly so. “One of the
things we love about guitars is they are pure chaos and never
sound the same way twice,” notes Rappak. “So a sampled guitar
is this exact moment of chaos, repeated perfectly.”
With a mountain of brooding synths and the gentle, breathy,
Pet Shop Boys-ish tones of singer Claes Erik Strängberg, it’s
not surprising that Swedish three-piece DNKL have been
enjoying big dollops of attention of late, collecting a full hand of
supportive thumbs-ups from magazines, websites and blogs all
over the place. The Gothenburg outfit released their debut EP,
‘Wolfhour’, towards the end of last year which cemented their
growing reputation as one of Scandinavia’s most hotly tipped
new acts. Their debut album is well on its way and they’ve got
a series of UK dates booked, so expect the kerfuffle to continue
well into 2015.
S H A D S H A D OWS
Dark throwback electronica Italian style
WHO THEY?
Italian duo Luca Bandini and Alessandra Gismondi claim their
skit is “dark and gloomy”. Perhaps not the most convincing sell,
but this is something that should thrill those who appreciate the
early pioneering sounds of outfits like Cabaret Voltaire and The
Human League.
WHY SHAD SHADOWS?
Details are sketchy because we’re going in very early doors
here, along with the other 158 sensible-eared folk who have
hooked on to Shad Shadows on Soundcloud. With a following
wind, we fancy a lot more of you will be hearing a lot more from
them as this year unfolds. That they’re inspired by all things
experimental, industrial and film soundtracky will give you an
idea of the direction of travel. We particularly like their neat
line in distant, deadpan vocals. Dark it might be, gloomy it most
certainly isn’t.
TELL US MORE
They’ve put out just two tracks so far – the hypnotic, psychedelic,
‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ goes electronic drone of ‘Down’ and the
insistent, street-lit, midnight analogue pulse of ‘Minor Blues’ –
but we’ll be keeping a close eye on what Shad Shadows serve up
next. A close eye? Shadows? Do you see what we did there?