When I heard both debut EP’s “Until The End Of Time” and “We Will Remain” from the Swedish duo Circumpolar I instantly realized it was more than simply a promising new formation. Jonas Mattson and Patrik Wallin have that little extra, which most of the bands never found: genius! They deal with an intelligent and sophisticated Electronic format, which might remind bands like Haujobb, Clock Dva, Skinny Puppy ao. The band’s debut album “Awaiting The Dawn” released on Alfa Matrix only confirmed the skills of the duo. The songs are mixing elements of EBM together with Cinematic influences. EBM bass lines mixed with subtle bleeps and carried by bombastic drum patterns made from this debut full length one of the best Electronic productions I’ve heard the past year. I really wonder how this band will evolve…

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Your debut album “Awaiting The Dawn” comes two years after your last EP “We Will Remain” and reveals an impressive evolution in different aspects of the production. How do you analyze and perceive this evolution by your own?

C: Thanks, we share the same feeling about the new album. We have spent so much more time mixing and mastering this time, really going through the sound image and all the details in the mix, making sure that everything sounded like we wanted it to sound. Further, we have experimented more with sampling, sounds, effects and song structures.

There is perhaps a more Ambient, Cinematic and Atmospheric mood on some of the tracks on the album compared two the last EP’s. But the thing is, some of those tracks were ‘leftovers’ from the “We Will Remain”-EP. So, we were already going in this direction on some of our tracks some two years ago. Moreover, we have bought a lot of new gear the last two years, which also has affected the soundscapes and harmonies.

Q: Was there any specific plan or concept when you started writing the songs for the album? What have been the different stages you’d to go through and what have been the main difficulties/challenges in the production of the album?

C:The first song we recorded was “Awaiting The Dawn”, and that song set the general mood and concept for the whole album.

Since almost every track on the album has a lot of sounds on very many different channels, the mixing and mastering process was very time consuming. It took much longer than we had planned for.

Q: I think there were nine songs planned for the album, but ten songs have been finally achieved. When do you consider a song as finished and were there songs/demos which finally didn’t make it to the tracklist?

C: A song is finished when it is completely mixed and mastered, and when we both are happy with the result. “Illusions Of Reality” was the last track that we finished on this album, so perhaps that is that tenth song… We usually don’t have a plan for a minimum or maximum number of songs for an album or EP. We generally finish as many songs as we can before it is time to release them.

We have a lot of ‘demos’ in forms of loops and uncompleted songs, which we maybe can use in the future. And as we said before, a few ‘demos’ made it onto this album. We felt that they were really great ideas, so we developed them further to make them fit the concept on the album. We still have lots of loops and unfinished stuff in the closet, and hopefully they will see the light of day when the time is right.

Q: What did you try to express and/or visualize by the title of the album “Awaiting The Dawn”? And what did you try to express by the lyrical themes?

C: It´s a journey through space and time, evoking memories from the past and the future, in a wasteland of twisted dreams. Exploring ancient rites, dreamlike landscapes of horrors and disasters. The album deals with conceptions of disintegration and regeneration, dreams and desires, hopes and fears, submission and suffering and everlasting dreams.

Sources of inspiration are for example: ancient religions, dreams, life, the universe, fiction, science fiction, poems, movies, the past and the future.

Q: I know you guys have been making music together since quite a long time. How did you see yourself evolving throughout the years and what do you especially like in each other’s approach and skills? 

C: It has always been very creative to make music together in different projects during all the years that we have known each other. However, in the Circumpolar project we have definitely found the concept and the sound that we have been looking for all these years. We have certainly evolved our studio skills and song writing abilities during the last couple of years.

Jonas is the master of synths, programming, sounds, mixing and mastering. Patrik is the master of lyrics, vocals and voices. Together we make the unique sound of Circumpolar.   

Q: All of your work has been released during the ongoing pandemic, which I guess must be very frustrating especially when it comes to plan live shows. How do you expect things evolving and do you have concrete live plans and experiences so far?  

C: Yes, and it has been really frustrating not to be able to meet up in the studio so often during these strange times. Due to the pandemic we have not yet been able to play live as Circumpolar. However, we are currently working on a live set up. Hopefully, we will be playing some live shows during 2022. That is something we are really looking forward to.

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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Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, IDM, Ambient, EBM.  

Format: Digital, 2 CD.

Background/Info: Two years after the promising EP’s “Until The End Of Time” and “We Will Remain” Swedish duo Jonas Mattson and Patrik Wallin strike back with their long awaited debut album. The work features ten songs while the bonus CD brings previously released EP’s for the first time on CD.

Content: If you don’t know Circumpolar, I invite you to start with the second album featuring the integrality of both EP’s. You’ll notice sophisticated songwriting, which is clearly reminding me of bands like Mentallo & The Fixer and Skinny Puppy, but also with some Haujobb elements. The songs are elaborated, mixing danceable elements and pure atmospheric Electro.

“Awaiting The Dawn” sounds like a step forward although holding on to the influences of the band. The album takes off with a rather intro-like track moving on with the title song, which reminds us of the inspiration of Skinny Puppy. The work is diversified, sometimes driven by EBM elements while often accomplished with bombastic drum sections. Mentallo & The Fixer is a band that comes often in mind while the most Ambient-driven cuts remind me of Benestrophe (a side-project of Mentallo & The Fixer). I also noticed a more Cold-Wave inspired song reminding me of The Danse Society, but with an Industrial sound production on top. The vocals have something spooky, which is perfectly matching with the music.

+ + + : After their astonishing EP “We Will Remain” I was eagerly awaiting the debut album of Circumpolar. All I can say is the album simply confirms the genius of this duo. This is intelligent and well-crafted music; Electro from the highest level! Even if the comparisons with Mentallo & The Fixer, Benestrophe, Skinny Puppy and even Haujobb are easy to make, Circumpolar also reveals a very unique sound identity. They match bombastic drum parts together with subtle bleeping sequences. They don’t hesitate to push the boundaries of established Electro standards into another dimension by adding EBM elements and pure ambient passages. The progression from both EP’s towards this album is impressive. The title song is a masterpiece, but I also have to mention “Let The Light Come In” for its harder EBM bass line and great bleeps plus “A Celestial Ocean”, which is more into an instrumental Ambient approach full of delicacy. I think it was a great idea to add a bonus disc with the previous EP’s of the band.

– – – : I don’t have true minor points, but the last part of the main album is a little less interesting than the main part.

Conclusion: Circumpolar doesn’t compose the most accessible Electro format, but it’s without a shadow of a doubt one of the most talented formations from the Alfa Matrix roster. This band has the stuff of genius!

Best songs: “Awaiting The Dawn”, “Let The Light Come In”, “A Celestial Ocean”, “Illusions Of Reality”, “Immortal Souls” + “Into The Heart Of The Sun”, “In A Distant Sky”, “Lost In Time”, “The Rain Will Burn”.

Rate: 9½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/Circumpolar1

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.

www.side-line.com

When we first heard from the Swedish band Circumpolar, Jonas Mattsson and Patrik Wallin, it was very clear that this band was bound to fill the gap that has existed for more than a decade in the electro scene, and that’s good olschool darkwave electro which we got to appreciate with bands such as the original Skinny Puppy, Abscess, Fortification 55 and many others, albeit with an up-to-date production.

This newcomer act took us literally by surprise with the release of their “We Will Remain” EP, this was like the scene in “Ratatouille” (2007) where Anton Ego tastes his dish, the ultimate flashback to those good old darkwave days.

Out by mid-November but now already in pre-order via Bandcamp and on 2CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore is the album “Awaiting The Dawn”. We already got to hear the complete album, and it surely was right what we expected: dark and somber darkwave electro with tormented vocals. The limited CD edition of the album comes out as a digipak double-CD with a 9-track bonus disc gathering the two “We Will Remain” and “Until The End Of Time” EP’s which appear on CD for the very first time.

On Bandcamp you can get the album separately so you don’t need to buy the EPs a second time. If you haven’t got the previous two EPs, don’t hesitate. You can check the material out below. Very warmly recommended.

If you want an extra glimpse of the new album, then check out the teaser below.

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.

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Circumpolar is a Swedish duo driven by Jonas Mattson and Patrik Wallin. They last year self-released their debut-EP “Until The End Of Time” and next got signed on Alfa Matrix, which re-released this work. The second EP “We Will Remain” was released nearly at the same time and revealed a more sophisticated sound approach. The intelligent sound treatments remind me a bit of bands such as Clock DVA, Haujobb and related formations. Circumpolar might be the next new sensation for all of those who like intelligent electronics!

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Circumpolar is a rather unknown name at the wider fields of electro-underground music so can you briefly introduce the band, the way you get contaminated by the ‘electronic virus’ and what were the original purposes when setting up Circumpolar?

Circumpolar: Circumpolar is a new Swedish dark-electro/wave act that consists of Jonas Mattsson and Patrik Wallin. We are old friends since way back in time. We started to make music together when we were about 18 years old, and then played in different bands for some years in the Northern part of Sweden. However, we never released any of that material on record. For years now we have been talking about getting back together again, and about two years ago we decided trying to make electronic music together again.

The purpose behind Circumpolar is to create interesting electronic music within our own conceptual format and sound, which hopefully will be enjoyed by people all over the world.

Q: The name of your band refers to astrology, but can you tell us a bit more about this name and the possible links with lyrical content and music style?

Patrik: The stars that circle around the celestial pole and never set below the horizon are called ‘circumpolarstars’. In ancient Egypt, the circumpolar stars in the Northern sky were called ‘jhmw-sk’, ‘the ones not knowing destruction’. The astronomical characteristics of these specific stars were used in numerous religious texts to express immortality and eternity, for example:

‘O uplifted one (i.e. the Pharaoh), being great among the circumpolar stars. You have not perished, you star of eternity’ (a citation from the so-called Pyramid Texts, 2300 BC)

I studied a lot of ancient history at university, and I have a PhD degree in Egyptology. Sometimes I use the imagery and concepts of life/death and space/time from ancient Egyptian religion in my lyrics.   

Q: Referring to the music style and/or the ‘sound’ properly speaking, I experienced your work as a fusion between different genres and influences; EBM, IDM, ambient, dark-electro… How do you perceive your own sound? Can you tell us a bit more about potential sources of inspiration? References? And how did the song writing happened?

Circumpolar: Bands like Skinny Puppy, Front 242, The Klinik, Twice A Man, Kraftwerk, The Neon Judgement and Portion Control have always been sources of inspiration to us. Further, The Fields Of The Nephilim, The Sisters Of Mercy, Swans, The Cure, Joy Division, Rome and Dead Can Dance are bands that we both like a lot.

Both of us are still buying lots of records and we constantly discover new electronic and dark-electro artists. There is so much great new music within our genre yet to discover.

We like to think that we somehow have created mix between EBM, dark-electro and dark wave/goth. However, this was not the intention when we started the band, it just happened.

The process of creating new songs usually starts with an instrumental loop or just single sample, which we successively develop into a song.

Q: You last year self-released the debut EP “Until The End Of Times” -which got next re-released on Alfa Matrix, plus another EP “We Will Remain”. Can you briefly analyze both EP’s? Was there a particular focus in writing and production? And how did you get the deal with Alfa Matrix?

Circumpolar: The first song we recorded as Circumpolar was “The Rain Will Burn” from the first EP, and then we realized that we had created a musical concept and sound that we really liked. After that moment, it was very easy to continuing writing new songs. 

On the “Until The End Of Time”-EP the foundation of our sound was built, whereas on the “We Will Remain”-EP the sound and concept evolved into something that will be even more present on our future releases.

We sent the songs from our first EP along with the songs to the “We Will Remain”-EP to about 15 different record labels. We got some offers, but when we got a positive response from Alfa Matrix we were overwhelmed.  

Q: I think there’s an interesting evolution in writing and production between both EP’s; “We Will Remain” being definitely more elaborated and subtle, reminding me to bands such as Haujobb, Mentallo & The Fixer and Clock DVA. What does it say about your approach, studio equipment and your own evolution as musicians?

Circumpolar: On the second EP we have worked more with the vocals, and experimented a bit more with reverb, delay and other effects, trying to create a more dynamic and atmospheric experience. The structures of the songs are also a bit different compared to the first EP. Further, we spent much more time on mixing and mastering.

We have bought a lot of new gear since we recorded the first EP, for example a Korg Minilouge XD, the fantastic Strymon Big Sky Reverb, and some Roland drum machines.

Q: I think you’re back again in studio, so I can imagine there’s an album in the pipeline? What brings the future and what might we expect regarding topics such as image, social media activity and live performances?

Circumpolar: For the moment, we are recording new songs for a forthcoming album release. We are constantly producing loads of loops and outtakes, but now we have selected about nine songs out of that material to be finalized for an album.  

It is quite possible that there will be some social media activities prior to our next releases, perhaps some live performances from the studio…

Yes, we will definitely play live in the future.  

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: IDM, industrial, electronic, ambient, experimental.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Circumpolar is the Swedish duo Jonas Mattson – Patrik Wallin.They last year self-released their debut-EP “Until The End Of Time” and next got signed on Alfa Matrix, which re-released this work.

Content: It’s not an easy thing defining the sound of Circumpolar. Their composition rapidly appears to be a juxtaposition between related electronic music styles. The opening song reminds me a bit of the complexity of Mentallo & The Fixer; a sophisticated composition driven by deep, resonating bass lines and dark sequences. The track progressively builds up. “The Rain Will Burn” in a way symbolizes the rest of the EP. I also discovered a more explicit ambient creation, which has something atypical and therefor experimental. The vocals have something spooky and inhibited, which fits the music. 

+ + + : Circumpolar brings a complex, and intelligent electronic format. The sound stands for a fusion between IDM, industrial and electro-ambient music so in the end it’s somewhat experimental and maybe a little visionary-like. I enjoy the dark sphere hanging over the songs while the ghost-like vocals reinforce this darkness. This is great music to listen to.

– – – : “Until The End Of Time” is not exactly the most accessible genre of electronics; it’s not made to set dancefloors on fire, but is a type of music that is part of a wider artistic performance including visuals.

Conclusion: Circumpolar definitely enlarges the sonic horizon of Alfa Matrix; the music appears to be a truly challenge, which will appeal to lovers of intelligent electronics.

Best songs: “The Rain Will Burn”, “I Can See The Dawn (The End Of The World)”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Circumpolar1

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.

www.side-line.com

A few weeks ago, we informed you about Circumpolar, a Swedish darkwave project consisting of the duo Jonas Mattson and Patrik Wallin. The band got featured on our free charity download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 5” with the track “Until the End of Time” which instantly brings up memories of those good old days when the darkwave scene had great melodic bands around in the vein of Abcess, Fortification 55, or even Inside Treatment.

Things have been going pretty fast since then. The band has signed to Alfa Matrix which is immediately releasing 2 EPs/singles from the band. The first being “We Will Remain” which holds all new material, 5 tracks that is with 2 clocking in at 7 minutes plus. We really felt young again listening to these tunes!

The second single/EP is a re-release of their self-released download EP “Until The End Of Time”. These first 4 songs are inspired by ancient rites and metaphors of the perpetual cycles of the stars, the sun and the moon and life in general.

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.

side-line.com

The 1st track on our free (or pay-what-you-want to support our charity work) download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 5” is by Circumpolar, a Swedish darkwave project consisting of the duo Jonas Mattson and Patrik Wallin.

The song is the title track of their debut EP “Until the End of Time” which the band self-released on Bandcamp. The song instantly will bring up memories of those good old days when the darkwave scene had great melodic darkwave bands around in the vein of Abcess, Fortification 55, or even Inside Treatment.

There’s more about this band that caught our attention. For instance, unlike most bands these days, Circumpolar isn’t afraid of releasing lenghty songs. “Until the End of Time” for instance lasts for a good 7.07 minutes, and that’s the shortest song on their debut EP! It wouldn’t surprise us that this yet-unsigned band gets picked up by a label pretty soon. You can check the song below!

The band also just launched a Facebook page, make sure to hook up with them!

Check “Face The Beat: Session 5” on Bandcamp to discover the other bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

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