July 24, 2025

Sexsomnia release ‘Forbidden (Shadow Mix)’ video single

Sexsomnia

Sexsomnia

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Montreal darkwave-electro trio Sexsomnia have released “Forbidden (Shadow Mix)”, a new remix and video-single featuring Marita Volodina of Polish act Stridulum. The track previews their forthcoming EP “Forbidden”, which is set for release on August 25, 2025. Preorders are now open via Bandcamp.

The “Shadow Mix” offers a club-oriented reinterpretation of the original Sexsomnia track. Frontman Philip Faith explains: “After we finished the recording sessions, I felt like that song could be interesting on the dancefloor, with less of the organic darkwave sound of the original. During one of my resident DJ nights at Cabaret Berlin for a fetish event, it all became clear to me, and the next day I started de-constructing ‘Forbidden’.”

He describes the remix as “an eerie, hypnotic, dance version with elements of industrial, trance, and dark disco,” created using an Access Virus T1, Moog Minitaur, Vsynth, and various analog synthesizers and drum machines.

The video accompanying the track features footage from a previous photo session for Dark Beauty Magazine titled “Love Under Will”, using two faceless characters in a monochrome, film noir visual.

The full EP includes two alternate mixes of “Forbidden”, as well as a new track titled “Vapor” with guest vocals by jazz-trained singer Isabelle Young. It also features a remix of “Nigrum Viduam” with Jacinthe Benoit on vocals, reworked by UK darkwave artist Attrition. Martin Bowes of Attrition also mastered the EP.

“We’ve been lucky with this EP to have some amazing collaborators on board,” Faith says. “Working with Marita Volodina was pure bliss – total symbiosis. We even succeeded shooting a video together, long distance between Canada and Poland.”

About Sexsomnia

Sexsomnia was founded in October 2021 in Montreal, Canada, by Philip Faith (bass guitars, programming, keys, vocals) and Pat Gaudette (bass guitars), later joined by Michael K. Rien (electronic percussion, synths). The group takes its name from a complex sleep disorder.

Faith has previously collaborated with Decoded Feedback, Third Realm, Edward Ka-Spel, Oneiroid Psychosis, and Blind Agony. Gaudette is a known figure in Montreal’s hardcore and post-punk scenes, having played with Unruled, Hexapheen, and NowFuture. Rien, described as a “driving energy” within the band, is the creator of the electronic project Earth Chronicles and a former member of nu-metal group Special Ops.

Their sound blends baritone and bass guitars with darkwave-electronic textures and dancefloor rhythms, with influences from The Cure, Giorgio Moroder, Propaganda, Trentemøller, Joy Division, Ladytron, Velvet Acid Christ, and David Lynch. Since 2022, Sexsomnia have released a string of singles, videos, and EPs. Their debut full-length, “Transcendent”, was released in 2024 via French label Manic Depression Records.

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