Silke Bischoff announce compilation ‘Tears – A Collection of Silke Bischoff Songs’, single ‘Northern Lights’ out now
Silke Bischoff announce “Tears” compilation, out September 4, 2026 on Dependent Records. First single “Northern Lights” is out digitally now.
The German dark wave and synthpop act Silke Bischoff announce “Tears – A Collection of Silke Bischoff Songs”, out on September 4, 2026 via Dependent Records. The 14-track compilation gathers remastered catalogue tracks plus the previously unreleased title song “Tears”, and is announced alongside the first single “Northern Lights”, out digitally on June 10, 2026 on Bandcamp and Spotify. The announcement follows the band’s catalogue deal reported in May, when Silke Bischoff signed with Dependent Records for catalogue reissues.
“Northern Lights” was originally released in 1996 on I.N.R.I. Records.
The compilation is the first step in making their oeuvre available to the public again, after the band’s recordings spent years out of circulation. Internal friction, legal issues, and most of all the tragic passing of one of its founding members, Felix Flaucher, in the night of August 22-23, 2017, at the age of 59 after a long illness, has left their works in a limbo for many years.
Table of contents
Silke Bischoff ‘Tears’: tracklist and artbook edition
The tracks on the compilation were restored and newly mastered by Olaf Wollschläger at Cottonbeat Studio in Burscheid, Germany. Wollschläger has previously worked with Mesh, Yello, Melotron, and Beborn Beton. The opening track “Tears” is a previously unreleased archive recording featuring the vocals of the late Felix Flaucher. The whole was recorded and mixed by Axel Kretschmann at Kinderzimmer Studio in Berlin. The artwork is by the late Felix Flaucher.
The full tracklist: “Tears”, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, “Under Your Skin”, “No Paradise”, “Northern Lights”, “The Union”, “The Man on the Wooden Cross”, “The Letter”, “On the Other Side”, “Ajna”, “Benetton Girl”, “Waste of Time”, “Sometimes”, and “To Protect and to Serve”.
The physical edition is a numbered, limited hardcover 48-page CD artbook with lyrics, photography by Felix Flaucher, and liner notes by the German author Mark Urban.
Silke Bischoff live dates in September 2026
Three German concerts follow the release:
- September 25, 2026 – Bochum (DE), Matrix
- September 26, 2026 – Leipzig (DE), Täubchenthal
- September 27, 2026 – Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater
The current line-up consists of Axel Kretschmann (vocals, keyboards, guitar), joined live by Markus Köster (drums) and Andy Simanowitz (piano, keyboards, background vocals).
About Silke Bischoff
Silke Bischoff was founded in 1990 by Axel Kretschmann and Felix Flaucher as a gothic and dark wave project. The band name refers to the 18-year-old hostage who was killed during the 1988 Gladbeck hostage crisis in Germany; the founders described the choice as an artistic memorial to the victim. After three two-track demo tapes and the underground club track “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, the self-titled debut album appeared in 1991.
Guitarist Frank Schwer joined as a full member on the second album “The Man on the Wooden Cross” (1993). “To Protect and to Serve” followed in 1995, with “Under Your Skin” becoming a club hit beyond the dark scene. The album “Northern Lights” appeared in 1996. Kretschmann left the band in 2002 due to internal differences, and after a legal dispute over the name, Flaucher and Schwer continued as 18 Summers.
In 2017, the reconciled members played a private performance among close friends shortly before Felix Flaucher died after a long illness.
At the 2025 edition of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, Axel Kretschmann revived Silke Bischoff on stage with guest appearances by Deine Lakaien frontman Alexander Veljanov and Sven Friedrich (Dreadful Shadows, Zeraphine, Solar Fake).
With “Tears – A Collection of Silke Bischoff Songs”, the revived project delivers the first new Silke Bischoff release since the catalogue went out of circulation, with further restored reissues announced to follow in digital and physical form.
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