Lakeside X announce new single ‘Factory Flowers’
Lakeside X (Photo by Karolina Faltysova)
Prague electronic act Lakeside X have returned with “Factory Flowers” as their first new music in three years and the first preview of a forthcoming new studio album for Janne Marvannen, Robert Broj, Igor Dvorský, and Jakub Zachoval.
“Factory Flowers” was produced by Daniel Myer, and mastered by Moimir Papalescu. Thematically the song is about technological alienation and loss of human connection.
Janne Marvannen, vocalist and songwriter, adds: “Our generation has experienced so many technological revolutions. We were the children who had the first personal computers. We played the first computer games and held the first mobile phones in our hands. The first smartphones. We experienced the advent of the internet. Dial-up connections, then broadband. We experienced a time when the internet took over as the main medium and source of information. We experienced the first social networks. And now we are experiencing the advent of AI. All in one lifetime, in the span of 40 years.
Meanwhile, entire generations of people are putting their lives in the hands of technology. Everything is online today, everything is virtual today. Only we are real. We have put our lives, emotions, feelings, and experiences in the hands of technology. Our data floats through metaspace, we live in virtual bubbles, we cultivate online friendships, and we consult with AI chatbots. Our lives are in the hands of invisible technological networks.
Where algorithms and technology prevail, humanity dies. We thought that connectivity and information would lead people to freedom, but instead it is used to manipulate and control. But it is us who are separating ourselves from reality. We multiply violence in our minds. We are held in confusion and fear. In a world where the blind lead the blind, we feed the fire of factory flowers.”
The new Lakeside X single follows the band’s post-hiatus comeback album “Love Disappears” which was preceded by the singles “Fire In The Sky” in December 2021, “Rising” in February 2022, “Lifeline” in June 2022, and “Time Has Come” in October 2022.
Depeche Mode selected Lakeside X as support for the Prague show on July 30, 2023. By 2025, the band was touring with Empathy Test, De/Vision, DeVision Redux, and Christian Eigner. The band will be playing a June 12, 2026 show at Cargo Gallery in Prague as part of the new concert program.
About Lakeside X
Lakeside X was formed in 1990s, when Janne Marvannen (vocals, songwriting, production), Robert Broj (keyboards), Jiří Fencl / Max Avalange (keyboards), and Lukáš Březina (guitar) played together under the name Dark Ages. Their first concert under the later transitional name Lakeside Church took place at the Depeche Mode ‘Bong’ fanclub convention in 1997, where they mixed original material with Depeche Mode covers. The band at the same time worked on demos in several Prague studios including Buton, Cobra, and Vintage.
After a pause, Marvannen, Broj, and Fencl regrouped in 2004. That year they recorded a cover of “Higher Love” for the Czech Depeche Mode tribute compilation “Some Great Celebration” and assembled older material for a first full-length release. X Production picked up those demos and issued “Sunrise” in December 2004. The debut included original tracks plus remixes, and it was accompanied by an early video for “Looking For You”.
In 2005, drummer Igor Dvorský and guitarist Vít Hájek / Vito Hayek joined first as live players and then as full members. During work on the second album, the band dropped the name Lakeside Church and adopted Lakeside X, partly to avoid religious associations attached to the earlier name. The resulting album, “Exit:NowHere”, arrived on X Production in 2007. It was a move toward darker, more guitar-based material written largely from new songs rather than older archive compositions.
The next release was “City Of Red Lights”, issued in 2010 on X Production. The material, recorded in 2009, had in the meantime moved further toward synth-led writing. Around that period the band also played abroad, appeared at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, supported IAMX in Brno, and later supported Covenant in Prague. In 2011, “Sunrise” was reissued in Argentina by Twilight Records under the Lakeside X name.
In 2012, Lakeside X self-released the “Wonder” EP holding six tracks followed by reissues of “City Of Red Lights” and “Exit: NOWhere” through Germany’s Black Rain label. The band then slowed down, played selective shows including a Camouflage support slot in Prague in 2013, and effectively went quiet after 2014.
“Fire In The Sky” (2021) would become the first new material after roughly eleven years without a studio album. The new album “Love Disappears” was released in 2022 on Musicraft. The band was joined by guitarist Jakub Zachoval with the 2023 “Fascination” video reflecting that expanded formation.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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