Bent interview: Niko on Renascence and the afterlife of unfinished songs
Bent
Bent is the project of Niko, based in Aschheim near Munich. Deeply connected to the scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he was also a co-founder of tear!down, though he left the band at an early stage and was not involved in its official releases. After moving to Berlin, music gradually receded behind studies and other priorities, and for years he had almost no real connection to the scene.
That changed in 2021, when renewed contact with old friends, especially James Mendez, slowly pulled him back in. The result was not a calculated comeback, but the eventual shaping of long-existing material into the Bent album Renascence.
What gives Renascence its particular gravity is not age alone, but the way time has been allowed to remain audible inside it. These songs were not freshly designed to imitate an earlier era, nor were they aggressively updated to prove their relevance. They were written between 2000 and 2010, carried privately through years of distance, and finished only once Niko found a way to return to them without falsifying their original charge. That makes Bent an unusual proposition: a project born from delay, memory, and renewed proximity to a scene that had once defined him. In this conversation, Niko speaks about old demos, the Texas electro imprint, artistic absence, and the strange feeling of moving closer again to an earlier self.
Bent interview
Karo: The Bent album Renascencefeels like a debut, but also like the result of a very long private conversation with your past. Did working on these songs feel more like creating something new, or like finally understanding material that had been waiting for its proper form?
Niko: Neither. Renascence is not really a debut in the traditional sense. All of the songs on the album were originally created in their essential form between 2000 and 2010, tracks I had at times completely forgotten about, but kept returning to over the years, in all kinds of life situations. They are pieces I have developed a deep connection with over time. I originally started Bent simply as a project to release these older songs, not to write new material. When finalizing the tracks, it was important to me to change as little as possible and preserve their character, only doing what was absolutely necessary. For example, adding real lyrics, since some of the old demos only had placeholder vocals. I only went through with it because I happened to discover a way to convert the old project files into Ableton format. Otherwise, I probably would not have put in the effort to rebuild everything from scratch, and it would not have felt authentic anyway.
Karo: You describe some of these tracks as carrying more than twenty years of history. What does time do to a song? Does it deepen its meaning, or does it force you to strip away earlier versions of yourself before the piece can become honest?
Niko: The songs were created at a time when I felt deeply connected to, and rooted in, the scene. It was also a critical period in my life, when I found myself at many crossroads and had to make fundamental decisions. The feeling at that time could not have been captured any better. It was never up for debate to bring the songs into the here and now.In that sense, your description is quite accurate: they are like excavations, carefully uncovered with a brush so as not to damage anything.
Karo: Your return to music seems tied not to strategy, but to reconnection: with old friendships, old sounds, and an older version of your own listening. Did coming back from outside the scene change the way you hear dark electro itself?
Niko: All of this more or less unfolded on its own, old and, above all, new friendships, for example with the guys from Amnistia, Tino did the amazing artwork, Michael from StateMent, or Andreas from Object. In recent times I almost never listen to dark electro.
Karo: This Bent album draws strongly from the Texas electro tradition, which has always had a very distinct emotional temperature: cold, expansive, but also strangely spiritual. What is it about that sound that still feels alive to you today?
Niko: Back when these songs were originally created, I found myself strongly drawn to the Texas sound, this kind of music with its organic warmth and cosmic spiritual beauty, in contrast to a more genuine rawness. There was also always a bit of punk irony and madness in it, nothing flat or artificially “evil.” I could never really relate to that. That is also why my older tracks lean heavily in that direction. I still like it today, but I have not listened to a Mentallo & The Fixer album in probably twenty years. There was a phase in my life when I had to sell all my CDs just to afford basic necessities. Now, after rediscovering this music following a long break, I have started rebuilding my collection, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, even Skinny Puppy.I have actually always felt more connected to the avant-garde or Wax Trax sound, which is also more clearly reflected in the songs I have genuinely written anew.
Karo: There is an intriguing contrast in Renascence between choral warmth and futuristic hardness, between something almost sacred and something rigorously mechanical. Is that duality central to how you think about your music, or did it emerge instinctively?
Niko: That emerged more instinctively. It was an expression of how I felt and perceived the music I wanted to make at that time. The songs I’m working on now carry much more energy, grit, and punk attitude, or are more overtly avant-garde. At the moment I’m very fascinated by technology, gear, and sound design, and I enjoy making modern and unconventional things.
Karo: Because you stepped away from the scene for so many years, you were spared the pressure to constantly produce or remain visible. Do you think that absence ultimately protected your artistic voice in some way?
Niko: I was probably never perceived as an artist, and I never really saw myself that way either. Of course, I was sporadically involved with tear!down in the past. So there was never any expectation, or any sense that anyone was waiting for a release from me. Things really started with Bent. Right now I am actually always somehow involved with music, even if I do not release anything significant for a year or two. Over the last four years since Bent began, I have written so many songs that I have imposed a kind of self-restraint, I have forbidden myself from writing any new material until the existing demos are fully finished and ready for release. Which is, in a way, quite frustrating at the moment. Over the past months, I have felt more like a producer.
Karo: Renascence is an album built from persistence rather than immediacy. After finally completing a work shaped across decades, do you now feel more connected to the person you were when those early ideas first appeared, or more aware of how far you have travelled from him?
Niko: I’m aware of my path; that awareness is ever-present. But there were also times when I did not like being confronted with my past. Most likely, this is simply the right moment for this album, I’m at peace with it.To answer your question: I definitely feel closer to my earlier self again. That is also reflected in my newly reignited passion for the scene.
Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.
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