The Swedish electro pop act Covenant has announced the death of Andreas Catjar-Danielsson. Andreas Catjar-Danielsson passed away in the very early morning of July 29 after a long struggle with cancer.

Originating from Snöstorp, Hallands Län, Sweden Andreas was a member in Souls and joined the Swedish band Covenant in 2013 contributing both on keyboards and guitars on such albums like “Leaving Babylon” released in 2013 and “The Blinding Dark” in 2016. He also composed music for theaters and produced the next Abu Nein album.

Covenant made an official communication on their Facebook page which you can read below.

Andreas Catjar-Danielsson’s last social media posts were various pictures and artworks. This was his last music work, an excellent cover of the Bow Wow Wow track “The Man Mountain” which he recorded with Antonia Henn.

Our sincere condolences go out to his friends and family. Rest in peace.

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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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Photos by ChrisRuiz/www.chrisruiz.de)

The Blinding Dark”, Covenants 9th studio album is to be released November 4th, 2016, and we asked Joakim Montelius about the album and what inspired them to take a step out of their apolitical  stance.

S-L: What’s changed since Leaving Babylon? (musically, bandmembers, other things?)

Joakim Montelius: Daniel Myer rejoined the band, so now we’re 5 people: myself, Eskil Simonsson, Daniel Jonasson, Daniel Myer and Andreas Catjar. On “The Blinding Dark” our designer Tobias Green plays bass on “If I Give My Soul” and Catjar’s band mate from Lovac, Erica Li, sings on “A Rider On A White Horse”. So the family is growing.

Musically, I think it’s best to just listen to it, actually. Things have changed, the way they are supposed to do. Covenant’s basic principle is to always evolve: change is the only constant. Personally, I’m very happy with “The Blinding Dark”. It perfectly expresses how we feel in the year 2016.

S-L: With the release of Sound Mirrors you addressed the current political situation in Europe; just a one-time event, or is the whole album in the same spirit?

JM: “Sound Mirrors” is a one-off. Covenant is an explicitly apolitical band. For the single, we made an exception to that rule, simply because we just couldn’t silently stand by and watch. We have a voice and I think it’s our duty to make a statement, given the alarming development the last few years.

The album is much more introspective. Of course, it’s directly influenced by what’s going on around us and inside of us, but we tackle it in a different way. It’s a very dark one, probably the darkest music we have ever made. But it’s not a beaten, sullen darkness. It’s a defiant one.

S-L: … and what do you personally think about the situation? Not just that there are a situation, but can something be done about it?

JM: My personal opinion is that I refuse to stand by and watch as the disgusting, brown ghost of our recent past spreads its filthy hands over the world again. Yes, things are bad in Sweden. Our thin veneer of being the humanist, tolerant Good Guys of Europe is all but vanished. And it’s all over the place: Hungary and Poland are just a bit further ahead of the UK, France, Greece, Austria, The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Even Germany is developing in a similar way. It’s like living in a real-life nightmare when reading the unbelievable polls that seem to indicate that, all of a sudden, a sizeable proportion of the voters are prepared to walk the same path that the Germans took, less than a century ago. The demagogues and the fear-mongers are just repeating the same pattern, they fuel the fires of the same anxieties and they feed on the same ignorance and the outright refusal to look for sensible solutions.

I mean, sure, it is a problem to accommodate and integrate a lot of people from very different cultures. A tiny little fraction of those who seek refuge are obviously radical fanatics who seek to do harm. But shutting people out, refusing to help our fellow humans or work together for solutions is not the way. It’s wrong and most importantly: it will only make things even worse. For us all. And it’s not the intolerant bigots, not the racists, not the scared ones nor the little hard core of seriously bad guys who will make it happen. It can only happen if we let them. So let’s not do that.

Let’s just not let them. That’s VERY important. And it’s definitely not too late. In average, in most European countries, 75-85% of the people are still not seduced by the dark side and we need to keep it that way. And, as far as I see it, the key is to realise that we are all “us”. We have one world, we are one humankind and everything we do have global consequences. We must open up, not lock ourselves in. Even if it’s scary.

S-L: More singles or releases planned?

JM: At the moment we have no plans for a second single. We focus on the album release and the world tour. At the moment we have 40 shows booked and more are added every day, so it’ll keep us busy well into 2017. In 2017 we’ll release an album and a DVD from the Gothic Meets Klassik festival.

—

Get your own CD copy, or the deluxe 2CD version featuring the “Psychonaut”, or the limited edition vinyl before seeing them live at these places at The Blinding Dark Tour (with Special Guests FADERHEAD + ISZOLOSCOPE):

29.10.16  Odense – Klub Golem (DK)
03.11.16  Nürnberg Hirsch (DE)
04.11.16  Munich Backstage (DE)
05.11.16  Stuttgart – Club Cann (DE) (SOLD OUT)
11.11.16  Hannover Musikzentrum (DE)
12.11.16  Hamburg Markthalle (DE)
17.11.16  Berlin – Columbia Theater (DE)
18.11.16  Erfurt Centrum (DE)
19.11.16  Dresden Reithalle (DE)
25.11.16  Frankfurt – Das Bett (DE) (SOLD OUT)
26.11.16  Krefeld Kulturfabrik (DE)
01.12.16  Rome – Cube* (IT)
03.12.16  Milan – Serraglio* (IT)
10.12.16  Malmö Inkonst (ElectriXmas Festival)* (SE)
16.12.16  Barcelona – Sala Bikini* (ES)
17.12.16  Madrid – Sala Arena* (ES)
18.12.16  Porto – Hard Club* (PT)
28.01.17  Cannes – MJC Picaud* (FR)
25.03.17 Athens – Death Disco* (GR )
01.04.17 Helsinki – Gloria* (FI )
* without FADERHEAD + ISZOLOSCOPE

Bonus: “Making Of Sound Mirrors” video

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Sound Mirrors’.

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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Out by mid-November is “The Blinding Dark”, Covenant newest album (as you could already read here). For this album long-standing Covenant member Joakim Montelius has once again taken more responsibility in the studio than on their previous works, the material sounds more though out due to this.

Also a few weeks ago we informed you about a vinyl release (available here) next to a 2CD set (available here), but there’s more. A large (vinyl-)sized box set including the 2CD hardcover book, a 3LP set, photo prints and a signed certificate will also be released (you can place your orders here, be fast, Covenant items don’t stay too long in order modus when limited).

The 3LP set includes the “Psychonaut EP”, a download code for the album and some exclusive digital bonus material (namely the tracks “Death of Identity (full version)”, “Wolf Hour”, “New Dawn”).

USA fans, note that Storming The Base where these items can be bought offers free shipping on orders over 0!

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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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) Covenant’s new single ‘Sound Mirrors’ (available here on vinyl and CD), released August 26th, gives us a first impression of their forthcoming album ‘The Blinding Dark’ (available here for ordering). For the first time ever, the Swedes address distinctly topical events in world politics: the refugee crisis with its accompanying hysteria and the anxiety about the future of a European continent that looks forward into uncertainty.

“Sound mirrors” were acoustic mirrors that looked like giant stone ears, placed along the English coast between 1916 and 1930 in order to warn of approaching planes or war ships. Their elliptical shape bundled acoustic signals, and they were considered to be both technological and constructional masterpieces. Faster planes and especially the invention of radar made sound mirrors obsolete later on, so today, they are merely stone witnesses of bygone times along the southern and north-eastern coasts of England. The reference to the refugee crisis and creeping radicalisation of Europe becomes particularly obvious when hearing Covenant’s lyrics for the corresponding song.

Here’s Covenant spokesman Joakim Montelius thoughts about the song:

“I was reading an article about this British pre-WWII project for early warning from attacks across the Channel, called Sound Mirrors. They were designed to amplify incoming sound from enemy aircraft enough to allow the defense to take them out before they could pose a serious threat.

My reading coincided with the refugee situation in Europe. That ability to anticipate possible scenarios is key to our survival from an evolutionary point of view. But we also have an equally amazing ability to ignore facts that make us feel uncomfortable or frightened. We can watch terrible things unfold right in front of us and still act as if nothing is going on. We buy ourselves a better conscience by sending some used clothes or money, we sign some petitions online, perhaps we write something heartfelt and compassionate on Facebook and then we go on with our comfortable lives.

But when the people suffering over there come knocking on our door, asking for a bit of the safety and prosperity we enjoy, that thin veneer of compassion and generosity cracks and our selfishness, our fear, our prejudice is suddenly all too apparent. And to my mind that’s because we ignore what we actually know:
There is no we versus them. There is only us. And there is only one world.

And when we see the truth of that simple fact and really absorb it so we can start acting on it, then there will be hope for us. Then we won’t need early warning. But I’m not sure we are capable to take that step at all. And that makes me terribly sad.“

Musically, the band does not miss out on anything, delivering a club smasher that harks back to single classics such as ‘Stalker’ or ‘Last Dance’. While unusual splashes of colour enhance the overall picture, ‘Sound Mirrors’ is bound to become an enduring earworm that will soon set dancefloors aflame.

It is available for ordering here as CD and limited edition 4 track 12″ vinyl.

Tracklist:

1. Sound Mirrors (version)
2. Sound Mirrors (faderhead remix)
3. In Theory
4. Sound Mirrors (Daniel Myer remix)
   * bonus track – CD only
5. Sound Mirrors (iszoloscope remix)

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Read the review of ‘The Blinding Dark’.

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