Ever since Bobby “Boris” Pickett single-handedly invented the genre of gothic pop with his 1962 hit “Monster Mash,” aficionados have waited in vain for any musician… hailing from anywhere on earth… at any future point on the planet’s miserable march toward annihilation… to come along to freak them the-fuck-out again with his or her uncanny blend of pop music’s lilting, warmth and the cadaverous coldness of death.
Cocteau Twins came closest for a while there back in the day, but now the good people at Chicago-based Kranky are taking up the cause with their latest signee: the mysterious, Stockholm, Sweden-based songstress Demen.
Her debut album (created on her own time, in hermetic isolation, duh) is called Nektyr, and it’s coming at us in a glorious blaze of poetic, reverberant doom on May 19 as a CD, LP, and digital download. Just in time for all those summer barbecues and blockbuster movie soundtracks! Don’t worry, though; you can pre-order the album now, while Seasonal Affective Disorder still has you in its sweet, consoling grip. And if you’re still feeling blue, check out the album’s lead-off track “Niorum” — a cold, undersea dance-of-death between Gothic grandeur and funereal ambience — down below. Should perk you right up.
Nektyr tracklisting:
01. Niorum
02. Morgon
03. Korridorer
04. Illdrop
05. Mea
06. Ambur
07. Flor
More about: Demen
