After a long silence the Norwegian/German dark electronic pop duo Lightshifters are – finally – back with a self-released digital single “Absurdities” today, March 6, 2026. The track previews the five-song EP “All Life’s Absurdities“, which is set for March 20, 2026 and follows the 2025 compilation “The In-Between Years”.

The single includes the title track and the Morphose Remix of the title track by the award-winning film composer Christoph Schauer, known in the music scene under the project names Morphose and Fractiles. An official “Absurdities” video is also online.

The duo has this to say about the new single: “The track explores the tension between reality and the surreal, blending darkwave elements with electronic energy.”

They also describe the upcoming EP as a release where “we explore the absurdities of human existence and the dark facets of electronic pop, industrial, and darkwave.”

“All Life’s Absurdities” will contain five tracks: “Absurdities”, “Heroine”, “Loved”, “Turn Back Time”, and “Deep Sleep”.

About Lightshifters

Lightshifters are Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann from Norway and Michael Pfirrmann from Germany. Before the duo started, Marthe had worked in studios in Oslo from a young age and later contributed lyrics and vocals to other projects, including the Xerces collaboration “Goodbye”, which appeared on the 2015 Café del Mar compilation “Dreams 8”, as well as several tracks by the Goa trance project Ra. Michael previously founded the darkwave band Inscape on Out Of Line and later released the solo album “Zeichensetzung” as Odradek.

From 2009 to 2019, Michael ran the Klangkomplex recording studio in Lübeck, where he worked with regional, national, and international artists. In 2012, Marthe and Michael began working together there as Lightshifters. Their first release was “Luminous” in August 2012. It was followed by the self-released singles “The Storm” and “Fire” in September 2013. In March 2015, they issued “Flickering Lights” and “Eternal Mortals”. Later that year, Marthe’s collaboration with Xerces appeared on “Dreams 8”. In 2016, Lightshifters released “Lovereaper” in July, while “Fire” took second place in the Electronic Music category at the 2016 Hofa Song Contest. The duo then released “Voices” in April 2017, “The Great One” in January 2018, and “In-Between Worlds” in December 2018.

In 2019, Klangkomplex closed after losing its premises, but Lightshifters continued as a project. In 2021, Marthe launched her solo project Promethea and released the EP “Dreams Surreal”. Since the end of 2024, Marthe and Michael have been living north of Oslo in Norway, where they continue producing music from their home studio. In 2025, Lightshifters returned with the retrospective compilation “The In-Between Years”. And now there is the single “Absurdities” and the EP “All Life’s Absurdities”, due later in March 2026.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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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Genre/Influences: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: Mondträume singer Damasius Venysthe last year released the EP “Exile Nights” from his solo-project Mental Exile. It was a successful debut revealing danceable and somewhat 80s-like inspired electro-pop music. The album is inspired by the artist’s passion for 80s music and sci/fi movies, which he tried to transpose into music as a movie-soundtrack. It’s a kind of concept dealing with a guy called ‘Shadow’ who has been condemned to exile. 

Content: The 80s electro-pop vibes are more represent at this album than at the EP. It’s clearly noticeable when paying attention for the dry snares and the astral atmosphere recovering the work. This album definitely has something old-school like. It also is a melodic album, which even reminds me to Second Decay –during the chorus of “The Night Is Mine” feat. Midnight Danger. The album reveals some interesting ‘features’ like the aforementioned song with Swedish project Midnight Danger plus two other songs featuring Lightshifters from Germany. About Lightshifters I especially like the female backing vocals on both songs.

+ + + : First of all I have to say a word about the EP, which was featuring 3 exclusive songs. It’s rather unusual to see artists releasing exclusive songs for EP’s and that’s precisely what Mental Exile did, so respect for this! The other 3 songs from the EP were remixes. This album features the original songs of these remixes. The 80s approach is omnipresent, but it’s not an emulation of old pioneers. It’s just an important influence, which has been transposed into something personal and mixed with contemporary elements. The melodic aspect of the work symbolizes the elaboration of the songs. This is an album that will make you dance while still featuring emotive songs. Last, but not least, I also have to say a word about the great vocals of Damasius Venysthe who for sure remains one of the most talented electro-pop singers from his generation. I also like the duo parts together with Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann.

– – – : A great album and cool songs, but maybe not a real hit. But that’s a good reason to purchase the previously released EP as well, which features the great song “Midnight Rain”.

Conclusion: Mental Exile definitely sounds more than a side-project! This project has a real potential.

Best songs: “Delta City”, “The Valley Of The Fallen”, “Her Only Wish feat. Lightshifters”, “Falling”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/mentalexileproject 

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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(Photo by Lydia Solans) To be released on October 4th is “Ride The Madness”, the debut by Mental Exile. Behind Mental Exile we find Damasius Venys – the singer of the popular synth pop band Mondträume. The album follows the well received “Exile Nights” download EP released in November 2018.

Musically this project stands for melancholic dark pop arrangements led by melodic vintage synth lines mixed with the electropop voice of Damasius. The album was mixed and mastered by renowned Italian synthwave artist and producer Vincenzo Salvia and also features noticeable guest appearances by Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann (from the wonderful Lightshifters project), adding her great voice on two songs while Chris Young (Midnight Danger) contributes with a guitar solo.

The album will be available on CD (pre-orders are accepted now via Alfa Matrix) and as download (Bandcamp pre-orders are already accepted with an immediate download of 2 tracks).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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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Read the review of ‘Exile Nights’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com